Mazenodian - June 2022

BOARDING

The Cebula Residential Community has been a busy hive of activity with 71 boys navigating the intricacies of communal living along with the challenges of COVID-19 thrown in the mix. I’d like to congratulate them all on the mature and responsible way they dealt with a raft of everchanging mandates.

The year began with a series of welcome activities including a weekend camp at Rottnest for our Year 7 and 8s and Boarding leaders. Over the two days and after many overs of cricket and games of football, it was wonderful to see the camaraderie develop, and the new boarders started to feel part of the Cebula family. For our returning boarders, Adventure World proved to be a great way to reconnect after the summer break.

Some changes to the weekend recreation program were aimed at getting the boys “out and about”, giving the boys the opportunity to take part in a raft of activities including go carting, stand up paddle boarding, Bounce, Laser Tag, fishing trips, Truck show, football games, movies and a sushi train restaurant experience. For those who love gaming, we’ve been fortunate to have one of our supervisors take on the organisation of a series of inhouse games nights that have proven popular. Next term we are looking at adding a gliding experience day, paint balling, hiking,

and getting a skipper’s ticket to our list of possible weekend activities.

The link between mood and food prompted a revamp of the Boarding menus to ensure that the meals are well balanced, interesting and nutritious. Our recent World Burger Day Make Your Own Night was voted the “best ever” boarding meal! The boys were also invited to join a Chef’s Forum so that twice a term they could meet with the catering staff and discuss the menu, their favourite dishes and give their feedback for future menu planning.

In the life of any boarding house, celebrating National Boarding Week occurs in May each year. We focussed on celebrating our own boarders as well as raising the boarding profile within the College. Throughout the week, we hosted an Invite a Teacher to Dinner Night and had a former boarder and AFL Player, Corey Gault (Class of 2009), join the boys for a presentation on how boarding life can prepare one for the future. Corey also shared his AFL experiences as a player with the Collingwood Football Club. Boarding inspired Form quizzes and a fundraising sausage sizzle – with proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House, were also part of the Boarding Week.

Mazenod Old Boy and former Boarder, Corey Gault (09) after speaking to the Boarders about his time as a student at Mazenod

Our recent Invite a Day Boy to Boarding initiative was very successful, allowing our boarders to share their “home” with day friends. With some boys staying overnight and others visiting for the day, boarding was a hive of activity. The feedback from the day boys and their parents was extremely positive and of course, our boys were thrilled with the opportunity to share the Mazenod Boarding Experience. We hope to see more day boys become regular visitors to Boarding in the coming months. This is being encouraged and supported by the introduction of the Mazenod Extended Care program which allows day boys and their families to utilise our Boarding services on a flexible basis with packages able to be tailor made to suit the needs of individual families.

I’d like to extend a big thank you to all the Boarding staff including our maintenance, cleaning and catering staff who along with the Housemums and supervisors, keep the Cebula Residential Community so beautifully on track. It is timely, that as she embarks on retirement, we acknowledge the wonderful service Housemum, Donna Ingleton, has given the boarding house over the last 12 years.

Annamaria Cream Director of Boarding