{"id":2905,"date":"2019-09-26T07:56:45","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T21:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/?post_type=article&#038;p=2905"},"modified":"2019-09-26T07:56:45","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T21:56:45","slug":"never-too-late-to-be-pleasantly-surprised","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/article\/never-too-late-to-be-pleasantly-surprised\/","title":{"rendered":"Never too late to be pleasantly surprised!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After eighteen years supporting boys in a residential pastoral environment (boarding) I have only experienced a horizontal system.\u00a0 A system across one year group only (horizontal).\u00a0 Here at Shore it is a vertical system.\u00a0 School House for example, has 60 boys, living in the house, ranging from Yr 7 to Yr 12.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re told something often enough, you tend to believe it.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, when you live and exist in a particular world, how you can believe and reiterate, something that you have never questioned.\u00a0 But when you step out of that comfort zone and immerse yourself in a different \u2018world\u2019, the fog lifts and you can\u2019t believe how narrow minded you have been.\u00a0 I must admit as I write this, I am shaking my head because the reality is, I\u2019ve never given this much thought until now and the people who have been telling me that the horizontal system is the best, have only lived in a horizontal world, no experience in the vertical system.<\/p>\n<p>So what are some myths that I can debunk:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Horizontal system allows House staff to know the boys better<\/strong>. \u2013 The system doesn\u2019t promote a better understanding of the boys.\u00a0 This depends on the individual staff members. Anyone who is genuine \u2018walking\u2019 with the boys and supporting them will succeed in either system.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Horizontal system allows you to target individuals better<\/strong> \u2013 This is not true.\u00a0 I have been impressed with the way that the older boys in School House have taken ownership of acting as big brothers. \u00a0Although as Housemaster I appreciate the work of the House staff the older boys ensure that there are always other eyes looking out for the boys. It\u2019s also comforting for the younger boys to communicate with older boys throughout the school day.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Horizontal system negates bullying from older boys<\/strong> \u2013 Nonsense! \u00a0Back in the 1980\u2019s when I was a boarder what is now called pastoral care did not exist.\u00a0 We did the right thing (most of the time) because we would get punished, not because it was the right thing to do.\u00a0 I remember if an older boy asked for a chip you very quickly handed over the whole packet! \u00a0Today as the staff of the House have become more understanding and constantly demonstrate empathy to the boys the boarders have followed with their relationships with each other. The interaction between the older and younger boys in School House is so genuine, it now becomes a constant reminder that we as adults can now learn much from the boys around us.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Vertical system creates a divide between boarders and day boys<\/strong> \u2013 Possibly.\u00a0 I have seen no evidence of this at Shore.\u00a0 Every day boarders take their lunch and eat it with the day boys. There is also a tremendous program in place where younger boarders are linked with city host families. \u00a0Boarders are constantly taking leave with their city host and during the holidays there are plenty of city folk enjoying their share of country hospitality.\u00a0 The coming holidays are no exception with a number of city boys heading west to the Weston\u2019s home, for an old fashion country get-together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After eighteen years supporting boys in a residential pastoral environment (boarding) I have only experienced a horizontal system.\u00a0 A system across one year group only (horizontal).\u00a0 Here at Shore it is a vertical system.\u00a0 School House for example, has 60 boys, living in the house, ranging from Yr 7 to Yr 12. If you\u2019re told [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-2905","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/2905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=2905"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-boarding-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=2905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}