From the Director of Boarding
I’m looking forward to catching up with boarding families in Inverell this evening! Our TGS on Tour schedule is getting busy over the next few weeks. Whilst there are boarding staff heading down to Moree and Pallamallawa, personally, I will be travelling to Darwin for the NT Cattlemen’s Association Conference. I have not yet had the opportunity to get up to Darwin, so I am looking forward to connecting with our families up north.
At this time of term our focus is very much upon the assessments our boarders are completing. These range from research assignments, fieldwork reports to examinations. Naturally, these assessments do impact upon our boarders' wellbeing and I thank all of our boarding staff who have been working to help our boarders in this regard.
As part of a strategy to further improve the support our borders receive, this week featured two Academic Enrichment prep sessions in Purves block. Held during the normal prep session on Tuesday and Wednesday night, all of Years 8, 9 and 10 boarders completed their prep together. To assist alongside our Heads and Assistant Head of House, our ‘normal’ contingent of boarding staff, many of whom are teachers or studying an education degree, were our Gap students as well as teachers and an Old Boy. The concept of the sessions is to pool the learning resources available to the boys so that they can access assistance in whatever subject they are studying. Whilst a ‘new’ way of working for our boarders, overall, the boys enjoyed the chance to connect with staff and collaborate with the peers in the classroom.
This weekend and the next provide some great opportunities for our boarders to relax and unwind from the assessment stress. There are a few games of footy that the boys can go and watch as well as a Touch Rugby tournament at Marist College Ashgrove for the boys to compete in. In preparing for Term 2, I have surveyed our boarders to get some ideas for what we could do with activities, and I will hopefully be able to launch a couple of new offerings to the boys.
To close, I encourage parents to look ahead and consider their end of term arrangements. The camps week means that everything will need to be in place before the boys depart as I know many boys will simply want to get back from camp, step off the bus, collect their bags and get into the car for the drive home. The transport options of our bus runs to the airport, Moree and Roma are up on the Parent Lounge for sign up.
