News

The term is rapidly drawing to a close and the girls are busily preparing for exams and end of year assessments. Amidst all of this, it’s great to see that there’s still enthusiasm to sign up for rec activities and support various school based events too. The girls are also currently completing house and room allocation requests for 2022. They will find out which house they’ll be in when they return in the new year. Next week we will host all our new boarders for 2022 at Orientation. A number of the girls have offered to act as buddies and I thank them for this. Ms Cumpsty, who will take over as Acting Head of Boarding in 2022, has been visiting the boarding house and familiarising herself with the daily routines and practices. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support during my time as Head of Boarding- I have certainly appreciated it greatly. I will certainly miss SBC Boarding and the wonderful community we have here. Best wishes Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

Dear Boarding Parents Welcome back to Term 4. Its been a busy one so far, especially for our Year 12s, who have now graduated after a series of wonderful celebratory events last week. With exams on the not too distant horizon, it’s been pleasing to see Year 9-11 girls really give their studies some diligent attention. As you’re aware , the College Fair takes place on Saturday 6th November from 3pm -7pm. As the girls will be needed on both their homeroom stall and the boarding craft stall, there will be no leave approved for Friday evening or Saturday until the fair ends at 7pm. Leave for Sunday will not be affected by the Fair. We’d really appreciate some parent help on our boarding stall, so if you’re planning on being at the Fair, we’d love to see you! I’m somewhat concerned by the increasing number of parents requesting leave for their daughters to watch sport at Ray Owen on weekends, often for the whole day. Please be reminded that there is no boarding supervision available at these games and some sporting clubs run a licensed bar during games. There have also been recent instances where undesirable and dangerous behaviour has occurred which could easily have put the girls present at risk. Going forward, please note that Ray Owen leave will only be approved for a two hour block and only if family members are involved in the playing and a there are family members to supervise the girls spectating . As always, I thank you for your support of our boarding community. Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

It has been a busy week for our girls with many attending end of season presentations for hockey and netball. Congratulations to Kiera Watts on her runner up Fairest and Best hockey award. Last Sunday, our Year 12 boarders were farewelled at high tea and later in the evening at a fabulous Skit Night which was organised by our Year 11’s. Monday evening’s Mercy Dinner was a wonderful event attended by our Sisters of Mercy who always love catching up with the boarders and hearing their stories. We also announced our 2022 boarding leaders and I congratulate the girls below on being elected to the Boarding Council. Head Boarders – Bridie D’alton and Selena Thompson Boarding Councillors – Madison Hall, Angelica D’Anna and Kyra Clayton Congratulations also to the following boarders who were successful in gaining school based leadership positions; College Ministry Leader – Taylah Knight McAuley House Leader – Bernadette Gregory O’Connor House Leader – Kyra Clayton I thank you as always for your continued support of our boarding community and wish you and your daughters a safe and restful break . Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

Dear Boarding Parents and Guardians As we approach the home stretch in what’s been a busy term, we have been involved with 2022 Boarding Leadership speeches. Nine candidates have put themselves forward to join the Boarding Council and their speeches earlier this week were all very thoughtfully prepared and well presented. The girls will now have an interview with myself and the current Head Boarders before we finalise the outcome. The successful applicants are decided using a number of criteria including the voting by their peers and staff, interview, application essay and staff recommendation letter. Over the last month I have had the pleasure of vising Mingenew, Dowerin and Brookton meeting with new current, past and prospective families. It has been great being able to promote our boarding community and share the fabulous opportunities available here at SBC. In recent days we have had a number of girls caught with 2nd phones. This clearly contravenes the boarding mobile phone policy which all girl and their parents signed in agreement at the start of the year. Its disappointing to have this happen, but more concerning is the girls lack of acknowledgement that they have done the wrong thing. I urge all parents to chat with their daughters about honest and appropriate behaviours when they are home for the holidays. As always I thank you for your continued support. Regards and Best wishes Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

Welcome to Term 3. We have six new boarders joining us this term and so far, it’s been great to see them settle so well. A big thank you to our girls who have taken the new arrivals under their wing! We also welcome ISG as our new boarding caterers. The girls are enjoying having lots more choice for lunch and morning tea – in fact, many are saying there’s too much choice and its not easy to decide what to have. As many of you are aware Mrs Yvonne Hasson retired last term and is currently visiting her son in QLD. Ms Catherine O’Grady has joined the staff and we are delighted to have her with us. Ms Grady has been a Housemother at both MLC and Penrhos before joining our SBC boarding community. Our Year 11’s have been invited to apply for Boarding leadership positions for next year and I’ve been very pleased with their proactive response. They are a wonderful group of young women who will undoubtedly work hard to represent the interest of the boarders in 2022. NAIDOC Week was celebrated throughout the college last week and I was absolutely delighted and proud of our girl’s commitment to a range of activities including some amazing dancing at the closing ceremony. I’d like to remind parents again about the process for booking medical or ancillary health appointments for their daughters. It is essential that all appointments are booked by the College Nurse, so that we can organise the logistics of transporting the girls. Your help with this is much appreciated. We do understand that at times surgeries make appointments and notify parents and ask that we are forwarded appointment times well ahead of the date so we can organise ourselves accordingly. Thank you as always for your continued support Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

As we finish what has been both a busy and challenging term for us all, I looked back on my newsletter item at the same time last year and wouldn’t you know it, COVID 19 was a focus as it has been in recent days! Once again, I thank you all for your support and congratulate the girls for the very understanding and cooperative manner in which they have taken the restrictions of the last week in their stride. I will, prior to the start of Term 3, be writing to you with any updates that the rapidly and constantly changing situation brings us. But just to be prepared and on the safe side, please make sure that your daughter returns to boarding with at least 2 Perth based guardians in the event we need to shut down rapidly and the girls need to be collected. It would also be useful for each girl to have a supply of face masks and hand sanitiser for person use. I wish the girls a great break – they have certainly earnt a rest and a few long sleep ins. It has been wonderful to see them so involved in their winter sport and many of the boarding activities available to them including horse riding and kick boxing. Please do take the time to sit with your daughter and go through her school and boarding report. Many girls are to be congratulated for their excellent effort across both areas, but a small number need to reflect on their overall performance and attitude at both school and boarding and come back with a renewed purpose to improve their personal performance. I thank Year 11 students Kyra and Savannah who ran a fantastic end of term theme dinner on Monday evening. The theme was Disney and the girls did an amazing job in creating the menu with the chefs and decorating the dining room. Their leadership was outstanding, well done girls. As always, I’m grateful to you all for your support and understanding. Best wishes Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding