Senior School
Senior School
Boarding
Great opportunities for social interaction on the Hill
On most Friday evenings you will find boys eagerly anticipating the opening of the boarders’ workshop – the design and technology centre where boys can work on various projects, such as making billycarts or building coffee tables. With many boys hailing from diverse backgrounds, it is important that a variety of activities are available to keep them engaged and connected. While one may expect the workshop to be a favourite occupation for boys from farms or from regional communities, it actually attracts boys from all backgrounds, and enables them to come together and work collaboratively. It is an activity that reaches across the divides of age, boarding houses and nationality.
The workshop is only one example of the plethora of activities available for boarders on weekends. To date, the Hill activities coordinator, Mr Hadrian Prest, has taken boarders skiing at Mt Buller, fishing on Western Port Bay and surfing on the surf coast. Melbourne-based activities have included mountain biking, go-karting, and trips to the movies, bubble soccer, the Comedy Festival and the theatre, with Aladdin proving to be a favourite. In addition, one weekend each term the boys compete in the inter-house competition known as the Wedderburn Cup, with events ranging from the traditional sports of AFL to debating, computer games and billycart races. Although an element of the rationale for weekend activities is to keep the boys busy and to help alleviate homesickness, it also contributes to developing those all-important social and emotional skills necessary to lead productive and fulfilling lives in the future.
It is a relatively common concern that the ubiquitous nature of personal devices and social media is having a detrimental impact on the ability of adolescents to develop interpersonal and social skills. Having 500‘ friends’ on Facebook is, so the commentary goes, nowhere near as important as having five close friends with whom you regularly interact at a personal level. Indeed, a recent report identified the significant benefits of the simple act of a hug in improving mental health and wellbeing.( Google‘ the importance of hugs’ if you are interested.)
The common trait for some adolescents to lock themselves away in rooms and communicate mainly via message or text, as opposed to in person, has, according to some, contributed to the growth of adolescent isolation and the consequential negative effect on their personal development.
When I am participating in tours outside Melbourne to promote boarding, I am commonly asked why we don’ t have single rooms, or at the very least double rooms for all boys – why do we still have rooms of three and four boys?
Certainly, one reason is because of our existing boarding structures, but it is also due to our belief that boys benefit from the social interaction they get through sharing rooms. Sharing a room with two or three other boys necessitates, obviously, the need to talk and engage with their roommates.
The simplest things – when to turn out the light, who gets which bed, how does one boy get up early for rowing training without waking everyone else – require negotiation, forward planning and self-discipline. It forces boys to think about their actions and how such actions affect others; it requires them to share, not just their space, but also their time, and helps them develop empathy and tolerance.
Perhaps, if what many commentators say about increasing levels of isolation and social dislocation amongst adolescents is due to the growth in‘ virtual relationships’, then boarding may provide an answer.
A recent review of boarding boys’ backgrounds identified an interesting pattern – an increasing number of families are choosing boarding for short-term stays. This is a welcome trend, as it exposes a number of boys to the benefits of living‘ in community’ while also helping Scotch families in times of need.
Some families are also choosing boarding to give their sons the experience of living in a residential community as a means of developing their interpersonal skills.
Whether it is to take advantage of the weekend activities, because of the academic support available, or to help develop social and interpersonal skills, boarding is certainly an experience I would encourage all families to consider during their son’ s time at Scotch. TIM BYRNES – DEAN OF BOARDING
58 Great Scot Number 151 – September 2017