Boarders are busy at RGS
ROCKHAMPTON Grammar School boarders have walked more than a combined 300 kilometres to celebrate boarding life.
The walk, which was held on Sunday, May 13, to mark National Boarders Week, capped off weeks of preparation and participation in Beef 2018 events and activities for Rockhampton Grammar School (RGS) students.
Students at Queensland’s largest boarding school had a massive impact at the triennial Beef Australia event, according to headmaster Dr Phillip Moulds, and head of boarding Mr Stewart Norford.
“For almost all of our boarders, the land is their life,” Dr Moulds said.
“To be able to share that with them and their families at Beef is very special for us.”
The school’s presence at Beef was led by students in RGS agriculture programs and show cattle team members, including Jo Connor and Bella Hansen, who finished in the top 10 of their respective age groups in the Junior Judging competition.
Approximately 650 RGS students participated in Beef, nearly 20% of all school students registered to attend the expo.
RGS communication and development manager Mike Donahue said that more than 150 people also took a virtual tour of RGS at Beef 2018, as the school launched a high-definition 360-degree four-minute video of its campuses, including Belmont Station, Port Curtis Farm and Ritamada, the school’s exclusive beachfront outdoor education centre at Emu Park on the Capricorn Coast.
“A school visit that would normally take four to five hours to drive and walk around has been distilled into a short piece that provides an overview of RGS, guided by two recent school graduates. So you really get to see it from their perspective,” he said.
“What children and parents loved was that they could put on the goggles and spin around to see everything, from classrooms to dance studios, paddocks, even the surf.”
The school is also encouraging the belief that well-being should be at the heart of education, implementing a whole-ofschool positive education program that will be embedded into its current pastoral care program.
According to RGS head of Year 11, Mrs Allison Wright, the new model of student care is all encompassing.
“This means the principles of personal well-being will not only be taught to students, but eventually also to parents, teaching and non-teaching staff, and the wider community,” Mrs Wright said.
Applications for 2019 RGS boarding scholarships and bursaries are open now.
Applications for scholarships, however, must be filed by May 23.
See www.rgs.qld.edu.au/ opportunity for more details.
Visit the school’s homepage at www.rgs.qld.edu.au for the tour.