Boarding Bulletin Board -May 16, 2019

Boarding Bulletin Board (T2 17/5/19)

News around the Boarding Precinct

On Friday May 10, we held our annual Mother’s Day afternoon tea. It’s a great event that allows our boys to celebrate their mothers and all they do for them. We had a great spread provided by Chartwells and it was great to see our Boarders serving their mothers. Thanks to all of the mothers and families who made the journey to celebrate this day.

Several of our boys had the opportunity to go and watch the Melbourne Rebels play the Queensland Reds at AAMI Park on Friday May 10. For some it was their first time to a Super Rugby game or even attending a major sporting event. The boys celebrated a triumphant win to the Rebels before the journey home.

On Saturday May 11, several of our boys went to the AFL match between the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions that was hosted at MARS Stadium, here in Ballarat. The sell out crowd provided the boys with an awesome atmosphere to witness a Bulldogs victory.

The Mother’s Day Classic Fun Run was held around Lake Wendouree on Sunday May 12. This was another opportunity for our Boarders to volunteer their time to help with the marshalling and smooth running of the event. The participants were very appreciative of the boys support as they ran the event. Providing our Boarders with opportunities to give to others is integral to our Boarding program.

This last week 12^t -“ 18 May we have been celebrating National Boarding Week. This initiative was introduced a few years ago by the Australian Boarding School Association as a week where all Boarding schools celebrate everything that is Boarding. This week we have celebrated the following:

Monday, we held a trivia night for our boarders instead of our usual second study. The boys were divided into their house tables, which meant there was a good mix of boys from all ages interacting and getting into the competitive spirit. Our victors for the evening were Kenny Table 7 followed closely by Kenny Table 8.

Wednesday Afternoon/Evening -“ We extended an invitation to our Year 12 Student Council to come and join us in Boarding from 3:30pm -“ 9:30pm. This experience gives our student leaders the opportunity to experience life as Boarder, which we hope gives them a better understanding of all students in the St Patrick’s community. Throughout their experience they took part in study sessions, our evening meal, which was a fabulous Chinese feast prepared by Chartwells, and Gym/Freetime before returning home for the night.

Wednesday -“ We also extended an invitation to the Staff on the School Leadership Team to join us for dinner as we celebrated National Boarding week with the Chinese banquet. It was great for the staff to interact with our Boarders in a more casual setting.

Wednesday -“ As a special treat and thanks for number of our Boarders we organised a special Boarding activity to Silvers Circus. This activity was for our boys who have been regularly volunteering for our Social Justice Initiatives and a way of showing our thanks to these boys. We continue to encourage all of our boys to get involved where possible.

Friday -“ to close out National Boarding Week our Boarders participated in a walk to the Olympic Rings at Lake Wendouree. All Boarding schools in Ballarat come together at this site where we collect all money raised for the Winter Woollies Drive, which is donated to a local charity. Following this all Boarders from St Pats, Ballarat Clarendon and Ballarat Grammar enjoy an evening at Xtreme Bounce where they can hang out with mates and make new friends in a social setting.

This Friday also saw a first in our Boarding Community. We have instigated a new program to promote culinary skills amongst our boys by giving them the opportunity to work in our kitchen helping with food preparation for the evening meal. We hope that the program will teach some basic skills to the boys under the guidance of our Chartwells’ catering team and that these skills can be put to good use in their time outside of the College.

Up-Coming Events

Wednesday May 22 -“ Opening night of the College Production of -‘Shrek’.