Boarding, Week 4

Dear Boarding Families,

Well! I didn’t see that coming but I now know some of you did!

A huge shout out to my wonderful family Lisa, Katie and Josh who surprised me last fortnight by flying me back to Perth to celebrate with family, friends and mates. I had no idea this was happening, even when Lisa proofed my newsletter last week, she didn’t give anything away. Some of the key staff involved knew and Tom and Justine had no intentions of catching up for dinner at the Crown Melbourne. Well played!

This week, I reflected on what I just experienced back home and the main word that came to mind was gratitude. I was very grateful for what others had done for me to ensure the secret was not spoilt and the moment has been etched in my mind for another 50 years to come! I am grateful for our boarding community.

From Psychology Today

“Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what one has. It is an affirmation of goodness and warmth. This social emotion strengthens relationships, and its roots run deep in evolutionary history—emanating from the survival value of helping others and being helped in return. Brain scans of people assigned a task that stimulates expression of gratitude show lasting changes in the prefrontal cortex that heighten sensitivity to future experiences of gratitude.”

Knowing this, I have been asking our boarders to share something they are grateful for. This was not a loaded question nor just related to boarding but was designed to allow our students to pause and reflect on what they are thankful for.

Enjoy your fortnight.

Kind regards,

Ash

Ash Keatch
Head of Boarding

As a part of Boarding Week, Wednesday was a well-being day for our boarders. SchoolTV and Lifestream by Guardian was a feature for both our boarders and their parents. The great news is that we have these resources and I have attached the link from our school webpage for you to look at.

SchoolTV SPECIAL REPORT: Managing Homesickness | Launceston Church Grammar School (schooltv.me)

Lifestream App: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxZy2jsGIcw

Introducing School TV

Today parents face a multitude of modern-day challenges in raising happy, well and resilient young people. Whilst there is a great deal of information available, this can often be confusing and overwhelming for parents looking for guidance. SchoolTV addresses this as a new online resource designed to empower you as parents with credible and sound information with realistic, practical ongoing support strategies. In conjunction with ABSA, School TV is launching a Boarding School Series which includes dedicated well-being resources to support boarding students and their families. – ABSA CEO Richard Stokes

Last week we celebrated Boarding Week around Australia. It was great to see all our boarders get around this event in the variety of activities we had.

Monday – started off with downloading the app GooseChase. Please click on the link to see what all the boarding schools in Tasmanian got up to during the week. https://animoto.com/play/FnNEw7WqhK9FBAvvLt0FUg.

Tuesday – was bring a friend to boarding afternoon. This was a great success and the boarders enjoyed showing their friends around their home.

Wednesday – We had our informal dinner (pyjama theme) and invited Scotch Oakburn to join us. The meal was chosen by Jerry Li and Chef Kin. It was a Chinese banquet. The Scotch Oakburn boarders were very impressed with our facilities and space. To say the grass is greener would be an understatement, our boarders went to bed knowing we had a good thing going here.

Thursday – Our Captain, Olivia John, was on stage at assembly once again promoting boarding. She spoke about the past present and future of boarding. Our Deputy Leaders, Victoria Monson and Jerry Li interviewed Maya Garwood (Grade 10) and Kayden Solibakke (Grade 8) on a range of questions about life as a boarder.

Night-time saw the Staff v Students netball game go rogue! We decided to mix the teams up by spreading the staff around. I really loved this event, seeing our culture in action. Aaron, Grade 12, and David, Grade 6, combined in the goal area to feed each other and put some serious points on the board. Lucy kept the beats up all night and I spent three days recovering.

Friday was Movie Night for the boarders staying in over the weekend while I went to Ulverstone for a boarding event with a busload of little legends who were going home for the weekend.

Well done to all involved. It was a very successful week.

The food has stepped up this week!

I put my body on the line and ate every meal offered to gauge for myself what changes are taking place. For me, it’s simple! I want our chefs to engage our boarders and put some passion into their meals. Chartwells is being reviewed by the regional managers and the boarders this week were sent a survey by them to fill out. The survey was based on each meal and what the boarders would like to eat. It also looked for comments and constructive feedback.

They encouraged us to continue with the feedback system and once the survey is digested (pardon the pun) by Chartwells, we will meat (oops meet) to discuss moving forward.

One of the highlights in having a traditional old boarding building is it allows for creative flair to look at a tired old space and flip it into a vibrant new, usable place which our boarders can be proud to use and respect.

This week the ‘Old’ Steve and Ash team, along with Geoff, one of our reliable builders, got together and flipped the Boys Boarding House Kitchen. We went for a kitchen style to match what we had in the dining hall, to blend and continue a neat, clean theme. The interior kitchen wares were selected by a group of boarders taken on a shopping spree. This is the result. We are just waiting on a new oven and stove.

In the Girls Boarding House, I made a start on flipping one of the rooms for the seniors to use as a gaming hub. The girls assisted as we pulled everything off the walls and started with an undercoat. The plan is to go monument colour and darken the room for a 75-inch screen to be placed on the wall and a couch facing it, so the senior girls have a breakout room to hang out.

Last Friday 20th May, Lisa and I drove the Grammar Bus to Ulverstone for a Regional Boarding Visit. This is the first of our Regional Boarding ‘relationship building’ visits for the year, after uncertain times with Covid-19 restrictions.

Wendy and Ian Heywood (Niall-Grade 7) were gracious hosts for our gathering, in their family home in Ulverstone, on the North West coast. Also joining us were Sophie & Greg Fieldwick (Grace-Grade 10), Carol Doonan (Lucy-Grade 11) and Michelle Burke (Maya-Grade 10, Joy-Grade 9). It was very affirming to talk about the families recent boarding experiences and all things Grammar. Miao Liu also joined the gathering with a view to a prospective boarding enrolment in Grade 7 2026.

I would like to thank Ian and Wendy for opening their house. What I really enjoy about these visits is connecting with the greater boarding community. I was also impressed with the amazing sunset views along the drive and the spectacular Heywood balcony view. I have been told about this on many occasions by Ian and Niall and was not let down, thank you for sharing this with me. Thank you also to Malcolm (Head of Enrolments) and Marilyn Dolman for joining us on this visit.

Thank you for making such an effort in this space. I am fiercely proud of our boarding at Grammar. We have a great culture and this is driven by passionate staff, great kids and parents who are invested in seeing their children see success in their schooling. We received some great feedback and I am grateful for the comments. My job is to ensure we develop our culture and continue to deliver on the standards we set for your child.

Launceston Church Grammar School – Senior Campus – Google Maps

Senior Staff Roster for the fortnight

27 May

Friday – Ash

Saturday – Ash

Sunday – Zoe

3 June

Friday – Terry

Saturday – Terry

Sunday – TJ 

Staff Contacts

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