Signing in ..... The value of networking

One of the key areas of development for our Association has been ensuring all Boarding School staff have opportunities to learn from others in the industry, and our staff constantly discuss ways we can make this happen.

So, how do you connect with others working in such an important role? Do you join in with the exciting offerings of your State Division, ensuring you find the time to not only learn from the Professional Development offered but to also share stories of your work with the others attending? Do you find the time to visit other Boarding Schools to see what they are doing? Do you have at least one other person working in another school that you can call when you need a chat? Are you attending our Symposium to learn from others in important Boarding Roles and to hear experts in their field talk about the positive side of risk taking?

The greatest strength of our Association is the many and varied opportunities we provide for you to network with others, but this only works if you take up the chances offered. Make sure you read our weekly ENews to know what is coming up in your area, make sure you contact our office if you have an idea we can help make happen, and most importantly make sure you talk to others at each and every event you attend - we are all about relationships and people are only too happy to share their experience.

Until next time .... Signing Out

Signing in .... Professional Development for all boarding staff

As I sit here and ponder that it has been almost a month since I last wrote a blog, I was thinking about the issues which faced me when I was running a Boarding House. First and foremost that came to mind was staffing - getting the right staff, keeping staff for longer than a year, and most importantly ensuring they knew what they were doing. This was a huge challenge when faced with a Boarding Staff of over 60 - many of whom were university students who were studying in areas other than education.

Over 15 years ago I thought it really worthwhile to use the old Duty of Care Course as a basis for training, giving the staff inservice each term in one unit. However, if I was faced with the challenge today I must admit that I would handle it differently. To be a staff member in a boarding house today without at least some solid base level training puts you at risk, and I would be challenged to ensure that all new staff started work on Book 1 of the Duty of Care Course to get their basic training done. This was one of the reasons ABSA decided to offer workshops to help people to complete the units of the workbooks, and one of the added side benefits of this has been the networking which occurs between staff, not only at different schools but from the same school too - so often staff working at the same place are so busy they don't get the time to sit and talk about the important work they are doing.

So my challenge to you all is - what training have you done, or provided for your boarding staff, and if the answer is very little, how can ABSA help you to rectify this?

As an added bonus for those studying Duty of Care we are well underway in the process of getting Book 1 accredited as a Certificate IV Course in Residential Care, and when completing Book 2 as well people will likely qualify for a Diploma in Residential Care. Those who have already completed the course and had it assessed by us at ABSA will be able to upgrade to these AQF qualifications!

Until next time.....Signing Out

As Easter Approaches

February and March have been busy months of workshops for ABSA, with staff in Ballarat, Hamilton, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart all taking part in one or more of our Duty of Care workshops. We do encourage everyone who has attended to get to work and complete their workbook - no point in putting it off!
Our Leaders in Residential Communities Symposium in Perth on 18 and 19 August has come together nicely, and registrations are now open. We encourage everyone who is a Leader in a Boarding House to consider coming along and learning from our speakers and workshop presenters, and to enjoy a wonderful networking event.
Work has also been done on our web page and social media presence lately - a key part of our offerings. We are keen to get more people to follow us on Facebook (like the page Australian Boarding Schools Association), and on Twitter and Instagram (@austboarding) - lots of interesting information is posted to these site regularly.
There has been some wonderful publicity for Boarding Schools during recent weeks - on ABC Radio, in Flight Magazines, in the Weekend Australian Magazine and shortly in the Sydney Morning Herald. If you have a 'good news story' please share it with us and we will work to get the good word out to the community.
Two exciting developments are underway - we will hold our first Boarding School Expo in Tasmania later in the year - more information on this will be forthcoming in coming months. Also we are well underway with the Boarding Standards work with Standards Australia - the committee for reviewing this is forming and will meet in early May - we will keep you informed.
Enjoy the Easter break, and the holidays which follow!

Duty of Care Beginner Workshop - St Mary's Anglican Girls School, Perth

Term 1 is well underway

As Boarding Schools around Australia have started the year, we have had the privilege of training over 200 people attending our Beginner and Advanced Workshops in the Duty of Care course in Western Australia and Victoria. Many of these staff were new to boarding, and looked forward to the year ahead, and Tom has been able to produce two YouTube Videos on our link looking at their aspirations for the year ahead - check them out using the link on our Home Page. More workshops are planned for Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart in the coming weeks.
Friday was a sad day for both Tom and me when we said farewell to one of our partners from Edart Global Sourcing, Dean Bonke. Dean passed away suddenly last Tuesday, leaving behind a young family. He will remain in our thoughts for many years to come.
I have finally had the chance to upload all the Duty of Care pages I have been promising those attending our workshops - log in to the members' section and clock on the Duty of Care Documents link to download these useful pages. If you can't remember the logo, email Tom at tom@boarding.org.au and he will email you back the details.
Tom is busy preparing a Boarders Section of our website - watch for this as it develops over the coming months. This will give all of our boarders access to useful information and will hopefully let them link together to share their boarding lives.
Update forms are on their way to all Heads of Boarding - please prioritise the completing and returning of these so that our database is up-to-date and we can start work on our 2013 Boarding Directory.
Information regarding the Leaders in Residential Communities Conference on 18 and 19 August in Perth will be mailed out and published on line shortly - get in early to secure this place at what promises to be a really new and exciting event on the ABSA Calendar.

2013 - an exciting year ahead

As everyone heads back to work after what has hopefully been a rewarding and restful break, work in the ABSA Office is ramping up once again. It is exciting to note that we have 20 Duty of Care workshops planned across the country for Term One, meaning many more people will get the chance to undertake this excellent training for their very important work.

Both Tom and I have spent some time putting together a plan for the year, including many new and exciting activities and events - more information will be forthcoming soon. Part of our plans include a road trip through country New South Wales visiting many of the regional boarding schools in that State, these visits being one of our key strategies for the year. We also have plans to visit many schools in Perth, Sydney and Brisbane already. If you are keen to have us visit your school please get in touch with our office.

Our Leaders in Residential Communities Symposium in Perth in August promises to be an event not to be missed - the program and registration details will be published in February. Watch for this and register early to ensure your place is secured for what will become a regular and worthwhile event on our annual program.

State conferences in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania are already being planned, with the other States to follow shortly. These low cost, local events give all our staff the chance to network and learn from the experts.

A new Directory of Boarding Schools will be published in the first half of the year, supplementing the developing 'Find A School' Section of our website. We post out over 50 directories to the public each month - a critical part of marketing our boarding schools!

Please contact our office if there is any help we can give you - and we look forward to catching up some time during the year.

Thanks for the many hosts we have had

Since the Conference ended both Tom and I have had little time to rest, visiting almost all areas of this wonderful country and meeting up with so many excellent Boarding Staff.
Just four days from the last conference session we were off to Melbourne, firstly to visit both Melbourne Grammar School and Xavier College and then to run a very successful Duty of Care Beginners Workshop at Scotch College. Next stop was Canberra - where we ran both the Beginner and Advanced Workshops at Canberra Girls Grammar and had the chance to tour both Canberra Girls and Canberra Grammar Schools.
I was privileged to be involved in helping to select a new Head of Boarding for Worawa Aboriginal College in Healsville, Victoria, and took part in their interviews. One of the special moments of this activity for me was watching the movie 'The Sapphires' on the plane while travelling to Melbourne, only to discover that this movie is based on the story of Auntie Lois Peeler, the Principal of Worawa!!
The Queensland Division held their State Conference at St Margaret's Anglican Girls School in Brisbane and over 70 members had the chance to learn more about Adolescent Brain Development.
The end of October saw us off to Sydney to run Beginner and Advanced Duty of Care workshops at Knox Grammar School, and to tour their new boarding facility. Upon return we headed for Adelaide where we visited Immanuel College, Westminster School, Scotch College and Loreto College over two days and attended their Heads of Boarding meeting, where Tom presented on our Social Media offerings and I talked about progress with the National Boarding Standards. Next day we were off to Mackay to Whitsunday Anglican School for an Advanced Duty of Care workshop and a tour of this fast-growing boarding school.
Perth was our next stop, with a very full program. We started by attending the Term 4 Heads of Boarding meeting and both presenting, Tom again on Social Media and this time he included a discussion on how teenagers are actually using different parts of the Social Media offerings, and I again talked about the National Standards and taught those in attendance how to use our website effectively. We were privileged to tour Scotch College, PLC, St Mary's Anglican Girls School, Hale School, St Brigid's College and Mazenod College during our stay in the West.
Two more trips have taken place during November - firstly to North Queensland to Visit St Patrick's College, The Cathedral School of St Anne and St James and Townsville Grammar School all in Townsville, Blackheath and Thornburgh College, Columba Catholic College and All Souls St Gabriel's School in Charters Towers, and then to spend Graduation Day at St Teresa's College, Abergowrie - a remarkable ceremony celebrating the work of this wonderful school just out of Ingham.
Our last trip was to Toowoomba, where we held a Bridging Course for those who had completed the old Duty of Care Course at Fairholme College, and also enjoyed a tour of Fairholme, and Toowoomba Grammar School, and next day travelled out to visit and tour The Scots PGC College in Warwick.
As you can see we certainly haven't spent a great deal of time in the office, but it has been absolutely wonderful to meet with so many of our members, and to see the fantastic offerings they all have. Our aim of 20 school visits during term 4 is almost achieved, and we hope to report in the next Blog of a few extra schools in Brisbane who have hosted us. Look on our Flickr page for photos of every visit we have undertaken!
Work on our Leaders in Residential Communities Symposium to be held in Perth on 18th and 19th August 2013 is well underway - keep these dates free for what promises to be an exciting new way of improving your knowledge and skills.
Until next time - enjoy the last few days of the school term!
Richard Stokes

A Real Success!

All those who attended the 2012 ABSA National Conference would surely agree that we excelled this time - excellent speakers, great social events and wonderful practitioners discussing their successes!
Our time at Surfers Paradise was full and varied, and included a wonderful Opening Keynote from Judith Slocombe, CEO of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation talking on the safety of children and the need to develop esmart schools. This was followed by our first round of concurrent sessions - some very capable presenters - and the night ended with an evening in the clouds, a cocktail party on the top of Q1, the tallest building on the Gold Coast.
Monday was our fullest day, and included keynotes from Andrew Knott on legal issues and John Hendry and Charlie Scudamore from Geelong Grammar talking on Positive Psychology in Action, as well as a presentation on our Research Project by Brad Papworth and a number of sessions looking at the Draft of our National Boarding Standards. Delegates also enjoyed some more fantastic Concurrent Sessions. Most of us we happy to have a free night to wander, whilst the Principals and Heads had a chance to dine together at our first Head's dinner.
Tuesday morning saw a fascinating presentation from Pete Upham, Executive Director of TABS USA, and Hilary Moriarty, National Director of BSA, UK, and our last offering of Concurrent Sessions, followed by a free afternoon where many went shopping and others enjoyed a relaxation massage. Everyone donned their finest to head to the secret Conference Dinner location, Seaworld, where we had the Dolphin Show all to ourselves and a fabulous seafood buffet followed with a great DJ allowing people to dance the night away.
Wednesday was filled with presentations on Leadership by Darryl Cross and Relationships by Nick Hawkes, and attendees drifted off after lunch to hit the beach or head home.
My thanks to everyone involved - our Board Members for the fabulous support and help throughout, our Office Manager Thomas Dunsmore for being there every minute of the day to help the delegates (and teach them to tweet!), and to the delegates for so actively taking part in this wonderful event - your feedback has been fantastic and your personal notes and email to both Tom and me have been very flattering.
Thanks also to our wonderful sponsors:
Scholarest/LAPG for the coffee machine and fruit and your presence at everything, Coca-Cola Amatil for the drinks and great display, A H Beard and Interior Fitouts for the great bedroom display, LetzLive our long term supporters finding GAP student placements, ANZ Bank, Tightfit/Edart, Scuta, A Clear Direction and Harrison James - watch this space as these fantastic companies continue to support our work and offer members even more benefits.
And so we start to plan next year's offerings - a Heads of Boarding two day Symposium in Perth in August, a conference for people new to boarding at the end of Term One in Sydney and State Division conferences across the country.