Boarding, Term 3 Week 4

Dear Boarding Families,

We have had a busy fortnight in boarding, so as I was reflecting on all the moving parts associated with what we do, I was reminded of an article from Richard Stokes (CEO, ABSA) on the Top 5 skills your child gains by being a boarder.

Having worked in boarding for 18 years I can say with confidence that your child is supported through structured routines, care and support. Your child learns an array of invaluable life skills by being a part of Grammar boarding. As I have seen over the years, boarders gain independence and opportunities for personal growth from a young age, at Grammar this has been as young as Grade 5.

Boarding at Grammar has and will continue to evolve and even if ‘Dad’ comes back and finds some nostalgia in the feel of the old buildings, the internal fabric of procedures and operational day to day running has modernised. This offers a range of opportunities for all of our students to step outside their comfort zones, to be themselves at their best. Students are taught solid life skills from boarding.

The key for me is the structured nature of our boarding system regarding our routines and our ability to not be too big, where your child fades into the system, rather we provide a bespoke/boutique system to cater for the variety of needs faced by individual families in our regional area here in Tasmania. This is something I value at Launceston Grammar over a big boarding system of which some of you and I have been a part of.

Richard Stokes, CEO of Australian Boarding Schools Association, also believes this “structured” nature of the boarding school routine is key to keeping boarders on the right track and on the right framework. He believes boarding schools actively teach life skills.

“It’s become a really important part of boarding, probably in the last 5 years, that whole concept about teaching skills for life outside of the boarding school, rather than just maintaining their support. I think that is probably the critical thing.”

Knowing this places us in a good space as we evolve and continue to “provide a structured, supportive and caring educational environment in which boarders develop skills and attitudes which prepare them to become contributing and caring adults in modern society.”

Boarding Handbook 2022

Enjoy your fortnight

Regards

Ash

1. Independence

Students in boarding schools have a great sense of independence living outside of home from an early age.

“Great boarding schools teach kids to be independent.”

Boarding school students are responsible for their own chores, studying, class and dinner attendance and more.

“They can stand on their own two feet and they know what they need to do to make life work. We see that time and time again when kids are really good independently because they’ve had to grow up quite quickly.”

Students become responsible for their own actions. As independent learners, boarding students need to use their time wisely to complete homework, socialise and take care of their wellbeing.

2. Practical Life Skills

Students also learn practical life skills from boarding school. Many boarding students are faced with tasks that parents often help out with at home.

Mr Stokes points out that many boarding schools have staff that teach students practical skills.

“Boarding schools are going more and more extensively into the exercise of making sure they do a good job of teaching life skills themselves.

So, things like how to cook meals, how to manage their money and finances, mental health, how to manage those…resilience issues and exercises… even ironing clothes and sewing up buttons… so there’s a big range of those sorts of skills that boarding schools are working really hard at training kids to do.”

3. Interacting with others

Students in boarding schools are working and living with people with a range of different attitudes and personalities.

“They learn to relate with others whether they like them or not.”

Learning to interact with other people is one of the most important life skills from boarding school.

“There’s almost a tolerance learning involved where they get an opportunity to learn to put up with those that they don’t like and learn to get on with lots of people really well.”

Learning to interact with others helps boarding students prepare for the real world, meeting new people and in the workforce.

4. Teamwork and Community

While non-boarding students live with their family, boarding school becomes a community with other students.

Students naturally gain team building and teamwork skills by learning together, studying together and living together.

Boarding school is a great way for students to learn teamwork skills they can carry into their future professional careers.

Mr Stokes explains this was especially emphasised during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“It’s taught them the value of community because our kids really missed being with the kids that they lived with and our international kids got stuck here. So they learnt to value the power of that community to support them. I think those sorts of skills are ones that COVID certainly taught us.”

Students also become good and valuable members of the community.

“They learn to live with each other really well … when they have finished school and have to move into a flat, they’re very good community based people because they’re used to living with people around them.”

5. Work Ethic

Many students attend boarding school to save time and strive for academic excellence.

Boarding students have a clear set routine and are surrounded by students completing their study and homework.

Boarding students often have a strong work ethic. Many students are influenced by their peers or are able to share notes and learn together.

Summary of life skills from boarding school

1. Independence
2. Practical life skills
3. Interacting with others
4. Teamwork and community
5. Work ethic

I am seeing an increasing amount of reach leave appointments during the school day from our boarding students. Our TCE students can have a study period during the day. The school has this in the timetable to support students loading with subject selection. Study periods should be used for study time, not an excuse to leave campus. Hair, nail and makeup appointments should be done after school, not during valuable school time.

I am keen for us to all be on the same page and mindful of the disruption this causes to your child’s education when looking for a time to book an appointment.

I intercepted a group of young boarders coming back from Coles Monday afternoon and after seeing their booty of sugar, I suggested we look to go there once a week rather than loading up every few days. We are supportive of snacks in boarding; we just need to be mindful that at home they wouldn’t be loading up from Coles every few days. If you are able to have that conversation when you next sit down with your child, that would be awesome.

We are on tonight with our Boarders Ball and Grade 10 Formal. There has been a lot of work done to ensure everyone attending these events have a memorable night. I will send out photos next newsletter.

Mark and his catering team are setting the stage with a mini function including finger food for all attending, so they feel special on their big night out. Extra staff have been rostered on so we can support our boarders at these events.

These resources have just been released and I thought they may be of interest to our community.  The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing. See link below

National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing (Links to an external site.).

This is the first dedicated national population mental health and well-being survey conducted since 2007. Orygen has compiled a summary of survey findings that are specific to young people. See link below.

summary of survey findings (Links to an external site.)

Orygen also has a large number of free training resources on a variety of mental health issues including self-harm. See Link Below.

https://www.orygen.org.au/Training/Resources

I am pleased to be creating fresh spaces for new boarders this year. Malcolm Dolman our Enrolments officer has been working hard on welcoming new families to our boarding space. Steve Donaghy our Property Manager has also been busy with his team assisting our room flips by project managing the transformations. We are always mindful of how this looks when finding rooms for new boarders and Zoe and TJ are also very aware of any changes made, so we minimise disruptions to our houses.

Lisa and I drove to St Marys last Saturday and dropped into Maple on Main Café. The owners, Nicole and Michael Mathers, along with their little helper behind the till, Hannah Grade 7, are all part of our boarding family at Grammar. They have a great vision for their small business and Lisa and I enjoyed being taken around and through what was the old garage in town.

If you are passing by or through St Marys, drop in for a coffee/tea and cake. I will, however, warn you that there are 7 little cars strategically placed inside the café and I was only able to discover 3 of them. When Mick pointed out the rest, it would be fair to say I was a little embarrassed, as they were obvious once I saw them!!

The wheels have been turning this term, please see what is coming up:

• Agfest 24^th-27^th August (I’ll be there on the 24^th– 25^th)
• International Boarding Forum Brisbane 28^th -30^th August
• Flinders Island Show 14^th September
• St Helens 16^th September (boarding parents’ function)

Agfest is coming up next week and Grammar will be there. Our site is 1035 which is located on Tenth Avenue (Hutchins is next door and then SOC). Please find attached a map for reference (we are top RH side of map, left of sheep dog trials two rows in).

We have several staff, all with Grammar softshell jackets on. I am looking forward to linking up with any of you out there during the week.

Senior Staff Roster for the fortnight

Week 3

Friday – TJ

Saturday – TJ / Zoe

Sunday – Zoe

Week 4

Friday – TJ

Saturday – TJ /  Terry

Sunday – Terry

Head of Boarding

Ashley Keatch
M 0403 799321
akeatch@lcgs.tas.edu.au

Deputy Head of Boarding – Academic

Theunis Pieters
M 0447 732 241
tpieters@lcgs.tas.edu.au

Deputy Head of Boarding – Recreation

Zoe Vandervelde
M 0498 167 579
ZVandervelde@lcgs.tas.edu.au