Boarding – 2022 Highlights

Boarding

2022 Highlights

The past 12 months have been focused on reconnecting as a community and reigniting the boarding houses at the Senior School and Tudor House. We have welcomed back many of our favourite events, while re-establishing boarding life as we know and love it.

It has been wonderful to be back on the road with our Registrar Jo Grinham, reconnecting with our boarding community on our annual Regional Tour. In 2022, we visited Dubbo, Gunnedah, Moree, Mount Isa, Mudgee, Orange, Tamworth, Toowoomba and Wagga Wagga. These trips are an opportunity to meet new, current and old friends at various boarding expos and our King’s Meet & Greet events. We are incredibly grateful to our boarding community who supported us on these tours. It was fantastic to reconnect after two years of lockdowns.

In 2022, Jo and I were invited to be panellists at the first Australian Boarding Schools Summit. This was an opportunity to share our experiences as one of the country’s leading boarding schools. We spoke about how we engage our boarding community, particularly through our vertical boarding program and the community functions we host for our boarding families.

Our Year 12 boarders from the Class of 2022 were among some of our top students, with 58 graduation prizes awarded to boarders. From academic awards to Onstage and InTech nominations and sporting achievements, boarders were rewarded for their hard work and dedication spanning every corner of the School. The support network within the boarding houses, from the Boarding Housemasters to the matrons, has provided an environment that nurtures and supports our boys to achieve their best. It is wonderful to see everyone’s hard work paying off. Over at Tudor House, Medley House is thriving. As part of our transition program for boys moving from Tudor House to Gowan Brae, we invite Tudor House boys to have a sleepover experience at the Parramatta campus. This is an excellent opportunity for the boys to begin preparing for life at Gowan Brae, as well as connecting with current boarders at the Senior School who willingly share their stories and advice.

As you will see from the highlights below, boarding is the heart and soul of our School. We pride ourselves on the unique way we provide a home away from home for every boarder at the Senior School and Tudor House.

Mentoring through the Vertical Boarding and Patron Programs

The Vertical Boarding Mentor Program has had a positive impact on students’ welfare, right across the boarding community. The idea of vertical boarding is to mix younger boys with older boys and, through staff training and supervision, the older boys develop leadership skills while the younger students learn practical community living skills and how to relate to one another as they share their space.

In September, Director of Boarding, Mr Ben Chadwick and Macarthur Waddy Boarding Housemaster, Mr James Peters had the opportunity to talk about their positive experience with vertical boarding at an ABSA webinar. They spoke about how vertical boarding creates a wonderful mixing pot of personalities as the boys are at different stages of development emotionally, physically and cognitively. This brings some challenges, but it provides opportunities for rewarding and enriching pastoral care experiences, conversations and learning by watching and doing.

“There is nothing more satisfying and rewarding in a boarding house than watching an older boarder help a younger boarder with his responsibilities and house jobs. Be it cleaning a BBQ, stacking and unstacking a dishwasher or even cleaning school shoes. Setting the right example with positive role modelling is priceless,” says Ben.

The Patron Program started in Bishop Barker Harris in 2014 with just one patron, Uday Soni (2013). After graduating, Uday was keen to return to King’s and support the boys in the boarding house. For Uday, it was a way of giving back to the School, but the boarding staff quickly realised the potential of hiring Old Boys within the boarding houses, especially from a pastoral care perspective.

The Patron Program slowly expanded to other boarding houses and by 2016, Old Boys worked in every King’s School boarding house. Last year, the School employed more than 20 hand-picked Old Boys, who worked across two supervision times, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, each session providing different support for the boys.

After school, from 3.00pm to 6.00pm qualified patrons provide supervision and an ear if the boys need to chat to someone. They play pool, provide advice and ensure the boys have support when needed.

From 6.30pm to 9.30pm, the patrons support the boys with any aspect of school life. This includes academic tutoring, advice around co-curricular activities or help with completing submissions like the Duke of Edinburgh application or Cadet Corp leadership proposals. Because the patrons have been through it before, they can give the boys practical and individual advice.

The 2022 Year 12 boarders were the first cohort to be part of the Patron Program from the beginning of their boarding experience in Year 7, right through to graduation. “The Patron Program has been instrumental in driving success for our boarders. This is evident in the results of our 2022 graduating boarders. We are incredibly proud of the program and how it has developed over the years,” says Ben.

The Blomfield Cup

Celebrating National Boarding Week by giving back

At King’s, National Boarding Week is much more than a celebration of the students who live on campus. Boarders see this week as an opportunity to give back and show gratitude for the community that makes their boarding experience positive and memorable. The boys prepared and served lunch for the whole School as well as Chartwells’ staff. In the evening, the boys hosted a Gratitude Dinner for laundry staff, maintenance, bus drivers, gardeners and house managers as a way to say thank you for all they do.

The Blomfield Cup

There is one weekend in the year when boarders from Years 8 to 12 must remain on campus to participate in a day of fierce competition between boarding houses known as The Blomfield Cup. Boarders can pick their event, with a broad range of options on offer including Touch Rugby, Football, Basketball, Chess, as well as an all-age relay and games of tug of war, Connect 4, Vortex and ping pong. Baker Hake secured the win in the narrowest of margins from Bishop Barker Harris, making them the two-time reigning champions of The JR Blomfield Cup.

Boarders out and about

Boarders enjoy getting out and about together to spend quality time outside the boarding houses with their mates. The Boarder Activity Coordinator plans three outings a term, driven by the students’ interests and requests. Trips include rock climbing, the driving range, food safaris and excursions to Eastwood and Frensham for a sports day and lunch. The annual trip to Raging Waters and beach days with Kambala are always a hit. Mentors also take their groups to paintball and cable park for water skiing and there have been many pizza parties for the boys in their houses.

The boys especially enjoy hitting the grandstands at Rugby League and Rugby Union matches. This year, they had the opportunity to cheer on Old Boy Joseph Suaalli who plays first grade for the Sydney Roosters. Many of the boys shared a boarding house with him, so it was very special to watch him live.

Welcoming parents for the annual Boarder Parent Dinner

The Boarder Parent Dinner was the perfect way to kickstart the Back to King’s weekend.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, the boys were thrilled to have their parents and loved ones join them in the boarding houses to share their experiences and celebrate their achievements as boarders.

Parents gathered in the Trophy Room for a wonderful meal and conversation. It was great to see parents, staff and students reconnecting as a community.

The fun did not stop there, as many boarding families stayed on for the Back to King’s celebrations. The boarding parents cheered on their boys during Saturday sport, concluding with the 1sts Rugby match, where King’s defeated Scots College in a remarkable game on the JS White Oval.