This week saw Tom and me in Melbourne for a couple of days - and the chance to attend their 'look Inside' at both Scotch College and Trinity Grammar School. We were both incredibly impressed with the wonderful turnout of Heads of Boarding and Senior Boarding Staff, and enjoyed the chance to lead a discussion on the progress toward National Boarding Standards and the running of Boarding School Expos in both Tasmania and Victoria. We received a very warm response toward this new project - work will progress over the next couple of months and more information will be forthcoming. We also enjoyed a lovely dinner together at the Skinny Dog Hotel in Kew - a great chance to relax and talk together.
Our previous two weeks were busy meeting with some of our Association sponsors. We are excited to report that Coca-Cola Amatil have signed on to support ABSA for the next twelve months - their new offerings will be very interesting for those who work with boarders. Scholarest/LAPG are also really excited about their presentation at the National Conference - they have a great deal to offer us and are very keen to work with our Expos as well. A.H.Beard Mattresses are also developing an interesting display for the conference.
The ABSA National Conference at the Gold Coast is not far away now - only 29 days at the time of writing this - and closing date for Registrations is only 10 days away. It is wonderful to report that we have over 230 delegates registered at this point - a considerable increase on the numbers attending our last two National Conferences - and more are still coming in. If you haven't registered yet please do so as soon as possible as our accommodation offerings are running out - you can register at http://www.boarding.org.au/1906/conference-and-events/national-conference/conference-registration/
Lastly there has been a huge development in our Social Media offerings (including this blog!) - all instigated by our Office Manager Tom Dunsmore. If you aren't following us on Twitter (@austboarding) or haven't yet liked our Facebook page you really are missing out on some wonderful information relating to your work, which is updated often. Our online newspaper at Paper.Li is published weekly, and our Pinterest and Delicious accounts are increasing, and we are working toward putting some of the key articles from Lights Out onto the additional page of this blog - all of these have links at the top of our webpage. Lastly our YouTube Channel has an ever increasing number of videos - both those showing what is happening in schools around Australia and those filmed by Tom asking about best practice in boarding - they are great to watch and can be accessed from the tab on our home page. Take the leap and join in with us in this new way of gaining professional development.
Until next time . . .
