Senior Boys' Boarding Blog: 25 March 2019

Trennick blog

The sun has been shining all Sunday and the boys have been out enjoying the fine weather – some headed into Truro to enjoy the café culture, others went up onto the sports pitches to play some football. The library has had good use too – several of the boarders have been making the most of the opportunity to study in the perfect environment.

Theo organised a highly enjoyable BBQ in the dark on Saturday evening. Despite the lack of light it was remarkably warm – especially near the BBQ! Theo bought beef burgers, chicken burgers, sausages, vegan burgers and then cooked them all on the house BBQ. The boys came out of the house when they smelt the food and they all enjoyed an hour outside socialising in the area immediately by the boarding house. The meal was rounded off with some ice-cream.

Earlier in the day they enjoyed a visit to the nearby Stithians Lake. The watersports centre put on a two hour stand-up paddle-boarding and kayaking taster session after which some of the boys even went swimming! Pizzas and hot chocolate were enjoyed by all in the lakeside café. There is an opportunity for the boarders to take part in the Saturday afternoon water-sports lessons in the summer term at Stithians Lake – please see the attached poster.

The highlight of the week was the Extended Project Qualification showcase evening. Both Callum and Ollie presented their project and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over! Hopefully some of the younger boarders will be inspired to take up this valuable opportunity in the Sixth Form to develop and practice research and extended project writing skills.

Mobile phone use

It has been drawn to the attention of all boarding staff that some boarders are struggling with mobile phone use especially during prep and at bed-time. It seems that some boarders are finding it hard to avoid the distractions of social media while studying, and some are staying on their phones, tablets or laptops after lights-out. This issue was discussed at a recent boarding meeting, and it was decided that staff would occasionally confiscate phones, tablets and laptops if, and only if, the boarders use them inappropriately. If you cannot contact your son please do not hesitate to call the Trennick Duty Mobile (07787 503630) which is held by the member of staff on duty in the late afternoon, all evening and overnight. If your son needs to contact home, he will of course be given his phone back temporarily for the duration of the call. We plan to educate and support the boarders through a PSHEE session on phone use early next term.