Page 112 - Southwell School Year Book 2020

BOARDING HOUSE
The closing paragraph of the Boarding House Report in last year’s magazine read as follows:
“We now look ahead to 2020. With the year being a distinctive number, we have every reason to hope for a distinctive year of boarding.”
Well, the year certainly turned out to be highly distinctive and, as with most organisations and institutions, the single most distinctive feature of the year in the boarding house was the Covid-19 lockdown.
The lockdown resulted in the Boarding House not operating for two weeks at the end of Term 1 and for a week at the start of Term 2, surely an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the school, and certainly in the memory of any current staff members. Although parents were given the option to leave their children in the Boarding House during the lockdown, as well as the option of returning them when the alert level moved down to Level 3, no parents took advantage of this offer.
Thus the return of the boarders in Term 2 felt very much as if it were the start of the year with the boarders having had almost eight weeks without boarding routines. It was almost like a bonus summer break. In the usual way, however, the boarders showed their usual resilience and exibility by quickly slipping into routines and by simply getting on with things. And we would like to imagine that the boarding environment provided a sense of stability and certainty for the boarders amidst the uncertainty and anxiety created by the pandemic.
Despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis, however, 2020 has proven to be a successful and positive year of growth and development in the Boarding House, especially as the result of the implementation of a number of recommendations that emerged from a review of boarding carried out by the School Trust Board in 2019. One innovation has been the opportunity for day students to embark upon short term boarding experiences. As a result, fteen day students spent the nal four weeks of Term 3 living in the Boarding House, while another eleven took a turn at the start of Term 4. In addition, there has been a steady stream of short term boarders who have spent one or two weeks in the Boarding House for various reasons; usually while parents have been away on business.
As the year draws to a close, it is with some sadness that we bid farewell to our Year 8 Boarders led by Head Boarders Greta Darke and Jack Ramsey. Our leavers are Daniel Alcock, Jackson Alcock, Adam Chapman, Fin Fisher, Dannielle Hamblin-Manderson, Ture Hansson, Toko Kraus, Harrison Moreland, Joel Nicholson, Jada Potter, Hunter Strachan, Toby Wales, Cameron Ward, Rosie Willson and Anthony Yao. We also say goodbye to Imaani Campin in Year 5 and Rosie Leaver and Osamu Nishio in Year 6 and we wish them everything of the best at their new schools.
We congratulate Greta Darke for being awarded the Brabazon Cup for the Best All- Round Boarder and Daniel Alcock for being awarded the Stembridge Cup for the Year 8 Boarder who consistently follows Boarding House routines.
I would like to acknowledge the Boarding House staff for their dedication and commitment to the task of caring for the boarders. Theirs is a demanding task and one which involves a
110
wide range of skills and challenges. In many respects they need to be prepared to handle just about any challenge from “feeding and watering” to emergency medical procedures and conict resolution. I am very grateful for the professional way in which our staff has met these challenges. Thus, my thanks go to our Assistant House Masters Janine Speedy, Johannes Botha, Matty Cole, Linda Tiffany and Louise Sybrandy. We are also deeply indebted to our House Mother, Jenn Douglas.
Behind the scenes, the boarders' needs are attended to by Susanne Parsons, our Laundry Manager, and by Kymba Ryder and Julie Guzman-Ron who ensure that the Boarding House is clean and hygienic. Our School Nurse, Sheryl Thomas keeps her nger on the pulse of the boarders’ health, and Reverend Canon Neale Troon takes care of our spiritual well-being. Of course we cannot go without saying thank you to our wonderful kitchen staff of Ron Govinden, Deepak Kumar, Faye Daly, Hiromi McClunie and Darran Smith.
Our wonderful team of tutors has been made up of Shané Smit, Jason Boyes, Teresa Steyn, Steven Kriel and Jonathan Streicher, who returned to New Zealand to study this year after completing a conventional Gap year here in 2019.
It will be harder than usual to say goodbye to our tutors this year in view of the fact that, because of the lockdown over the Autumn holidays, we have probably spent more time actually being in their company than is usually the case. And because of travel restrictions, ShanéSmithasspentanextrasixmonthswith us than would normally be the case. We have been extremely fortunate to have had such a wonderful group of tutors through this difcult period. They have embraced life at Southwell, including the challenge of the lockdown, with a positive, exible and cheerful attitude. We will never forget seeing Miss Smit and Miss Steyn zooming around in the Kioti Quad with a load of autumn leaves that they had gathered together from around the school, not to mention the sanding and varnishing of the dorm bunks carried out by Miss Steyn and Mr Kriel, and the various painting and mowing sessions that they carried out. But even more important, they will be remembered fondly by many of the boarders for being like "really cool older brothers and sisters." They will have made a lasting impression on our boarders and for this, we are really grateful.
And now, as we look forward to 2021, we hope for another year of growth and development in the Boarding House, and one unaffected by the anxiety and uncertainty brought about by Covid-19.
Keith Rees-Gibbs & Bev McMaster Heads of Boarding
Boarders' Night Prayer Southwell School Yearbook 2020