Shore Boarding Hits the Skies

Over the weekend of March 30-31, Darren Junee and I visited the country, enjoying the wonderful hospitality of our hosts and the many Shore community members who joined us. Descending beneath the clouds as we prepared to land in Tamworth, it was wonderful to see the ground sodden with rain. It lifted the spirits of all of us, and we enjoyed hearing that this feeling had spread to other rural areas in the state. Here’s to more rain to come! It was fantastic to catch up with nearly 50 old Shore friends, as well as current and prospective parents in Walcha and Spring Ridge. We would like to thank the Warden Family (Walcha) and the Clift Family (Spring Ridge) for such generosity and kindness. We had a fabulous time – thank you for having us! We look forward to spending more time in Dubbo, Narromine, Mudgee and Coonabarabran in the upcoming term.

Food

We have been working as hard as we can to improve the food here in Shore boarding, across several fronts. It certainly has been better (don’t listen to everything your boys tell you!), although we are aware that there are still areas that could be improved. The boys across all four Houses have been surveyed to determine foods they would prefer left off the menu, those foods they would like to see added and what they love and would like bulked or doubled up. There has been greater emphasis on quantities, presentation and nutrition, with notable additions such as boxes of fruit delivered to Houses and more morning and afternoon teas. Favourites like schnitzels, taco’s and meat patties added to the BBQ menu have been a hit, but we will continue to strive to listen to the boarders and deliver. The Senior Boarding Housemaster meets with the Catering Manager once a fortnight to review the menu, based primarily on boarder feedback, and changes are made where possible.

Wet ‘n’ Wild

Several boarders enjoyed a great time out on an excursion to Wet ‘n’ Wild recently. In addition to the activities run by individual boarding houses this term, there have been several opportunities for boys to join an excursion as a whole boarding group. Recently, there have been several takers for trips to Kirribilli, Luna Park, ten-pin bowling, the Balmoral Swim had three boarding houses represented and Wet ‘n’ Wild. It has certainly been a very long but enjoyable Term 1; it might even be true that a few of us are quite looking forward to a couple of weeks off!

We here in Shore Boarding wish everyone a wonderful Easter break with your sons. Enjoy some quality time with them, and we look forward to seeing you in Term 2.

Brendan Morris
Senior Boarding Housemaster