AthleteInformation

To succeed at living away from home and to maintain their scholarship, sports scholars need to have a high level of personal organisation, be committed to managing schoolwork and private study effectively, be focused on reaching their full performance potential and be prepared to participate as fully as possible in the boarding community.

We expect boarding athletes to have the self-discipline to set their own alarm and get themselves up for morning training sessions. A pre-breakfast snack may be taken in the boarding house kitchen prior to morning training. After morning training athletes must dress in school uniform before going to breakfast in the school dining hall.

During the school day athletes often become tired. It is important that no lessons are missed because this causes schoolwork to become unmanageable. However, at lunchtime and in free periods athletes may go to the school Health Centre to catch up on some sleep. Occasionally, an athlete may be allowed to return to the boarding house to sleep in his/her own bed for a longer period of time if the School Nurse decides that it is necessary. It is important to get to bed on time at night, or even to go to bed earlier if possible to maximise sleep opportunities.

Athletes in Years 7, 8 and 9 are expected to fully participate in all PE lessons in school as part of their all-round education. Athletes in years 10, 11 and Sixth Form, who are not taking PE as an academic subject, may be allowed to use Games lesson time for an allocated training session or for homework or private study. It is often advisable for athletes starting the GCSE programme in Year 10 to take one less subject than normal to free up some lesson time during the day for private study. These decisions affect timetabling and must be discussed and agreed in advance with the Assistant Head.

It is recommended that athletes in Years 10, 11 and Sixth Form do not forgo the opportunity to take part in the school’s enrichment programme but get involved in activities such as the Sports Leaders Award, Art or Photography when possible on Friday afternoons.

In the evening athletes have supper either before or after training. Athletes then need the self- discipline to complete homework, prepare all equipment/bags for the next day and manage laundry before enjoying some free time prior to going to bed.

We understand that there will be some periods of time that are harder than others, e.g. at exam time; when performance is not as good as expected; or, when an athlete is injured. In these cases we do not look for perfection but for a realistic and honest attitude to the situation so that, with determination and the available support, the individual may overcome the particular obstacle. Boarding staff, health staff, academic staff, and coaches communicate with each other and with parents to ensure that the welfare of all athletes is maintained while they are in our care.

Chaperoningarrangementsfortermtimeswimming competitions

At least one chaperone will be provided to look after boarding swimming athletes at competitions during school term time only unless parents choose to accompany their own child themselves. Your child must have enough money to buy meals, drinks and snacks during the competition. The chaperone is not able to lend money.

For competitions during the school holidays when the boarding house is closed to boarders, parents are expected, either, to accompany your own child to the competition, or, to instruct your child’s UK Guardian to chaperone your child, or, to not enter that particular competition to enable your child to return home. This includes competitions that occur at the start or end of a holiday.

Parents are responsible for booking accommodation for your child at the hotel preferred by the Plymouth Leander Swimming Club as detailed in the relevant entry information for each competition. If you do not live in the UK and need help with making the accommodation booking for your child you can ask the swim office administrator to make the booking for you but only if you advance the money first. We are not able to lend money. If you have sufficient money deposited in a ‘College House account’ we can pass the money to the swim office on your instruction.

Food&Meals

All meals are provided in the school dining hall. Please note that we do not allow boarders to self- cater at mealtimes, except for the over 16s on Saturday and Sunday evenings only, which requires weekly permission to be obtained from their House Parent on the previous Wednesday when agreeing ‘weekend whereabouts’.

If your child has a special dietary requirement e.g. allergy to nuts, or gluten-free diet, please make sure that full details are given on the school health form. The school nurse will inform the catering manager so that your child’s needs may be met.

In the boarding house kitchens, we provide squash, milk, bread, butter, spreads and cereal to snack on in the evenings after school and at the weekends. Boarders may also purchase their own snacks, if they choose to, in addition to what is provided for them.

If a boarder is unable to attend a meal a packed meal will be provided. Packed meals must be ordered by the House Parents at least one day before they are required. When a boarder will be away for a day or more, e.g. D of E expeditions, camps, university open days etc. the boarder must have enough money to pay for all food and drink bought during this time.

All athletes are expected to adhere to the nutrition guidance given by their coaches, especially to avoid food and drinks with high sugar and/or high fat content. Cereals are provided in the boarding house kitchens for athletes who wish to eat before early morning training. This is in addition to attending breakfast as normal after morning training.

RoomShares

An important aspect of boarding involves sharing a room and learning to get along with room-mates. Your child will be placed in a room with one or two other boarders of a similar age.

Boarders have to be considerate towards each other, respecting each other’s feelings and socialising with friends in the ground floor communal rooms rather than perhaps disturbing the privacy of their roommate.

If your child is finding it hard to get along with a roommate, please let the House Parent know so that we can help to mediate. It is preferable allround if boarders can be helped to overcome their differences and live tolerantly with each other.

However, if a room share really is not working we will do our best to make the change at the next holiday time. We can not guarantee to accommodate all requests and we ask you to respect the professional judgement of the House Parents when allocating rooms.

Room allocations are reviewed at the end of each term and changes may be made for the following term. This allows for a more balanced integration of British and International students.

All boarders are expected to communicate in English even if it is not their first language. It is considered impolite for boarders to hold conversations in their own languages, which may make others feel excluded or uncomfortable.

Laundry

In order to facilitate the smooth running of the laundry system, it is important that all items are labelled with your child’s name and allocated laundry number. One boarder’s items of clothing will often be identical or similar to another’s and so could be easily mislaid.

Your child’s laundry number will be given to them on their arrival to boarding. Please write the laundry number on the labels of all items with a marker pen. The domestic services department will then provide a full labelling service for clothing, bed linen and towels, etc. Labels are machine printed with your child’s name and laundry number and are pressed onto your child’s items in an unobtrusive position where the operatives can easily find them when sorting items after laundering.

Items of uniform purchased in the school shop will be sent directly by the shop manager to the domestic services manager for labelling and will be available for collection from the school laundry.

LaundryEquipment

It is essential that you provide your child with at least one large drawstring bag for transporting dirty washing to the laundry building.

Laundry bags will be labelled with your child’s name and laundry number clearly marked on the outside in the school laundry.

We will issue your child with 2 named and numbered net washing bags for the washing of underwear (one for whites, one for colours). The underwear is washed and dried inside the net bags, which means that pants and socks do not have to be individually named.

Howthesystemworks

Boarders sort their own dirty washing into their drawstring laundry bag and net underwear bags each day and take them to the laundry room each morning before breakfast.

The items are either washed that morning or may be soaked overnight and laundered the next day.

FireDrills

Fire drills are carried out at least once per term during boarding time. These are discussed and explained to boarders as part of their induction process Occasional drills have to be conducted during the time when most boarders are asleep, to comply with regulations. We will try to minimise the impact on athletes in this situation.

Items are tumble dried where possible or hung on rails until dry, which may take a day or two.

Clean laundry is sorted into numbered shelves, while unlabelled items go into lost property.

The boarders collect their own clean clothes after school from their designated shelf.

Prefects

The role of the prefects is to be helpful and supportive to both boarders and duty staff. Tasks carried out by prefects include collecting in phones at bedtime, helping to supervise study timeand organising evening activities for other boarders.