Nelson College Boarding news & events

BOARDING NEWSLETTERS

2020
Start of the year newsletter
Term 2 Boarding newsletter
Barnicoat Term 2 newsletter
Term 3 Boarding Nnewsletter

If New Zealand moves to Level 3/4 again in the future, then Nelson College Boarding will resume its original boarding bubble. Domestic boarders will not be accommodated at this time and these boys will be required to return home.

Covid Updates for our boarding Community

If New Zealand moves to L3/4 again in the future, then Nelson College Boarding will resume its original boarding bubble. Domestic boarders will not be accommodated at this time and these boys will be required to return home.

Wednesday 12 August

Kia ora all

At this stage, in response to the unfolding situation nationally, our level 2 measures will be –

– Encouragement of boys to keep out of each other’s breathing and touch space, within in our boarding community & to practise wider physical distancing with those outside of our boarding community
– Parents dropping their boys off are asked to be vigilant in using the visitor’s book and to keep a physical distance from staff & other boarders
– Contact Tracing Registers for visitors at both houses, the san and the dining room
– Heightened hygiene measures, and in particular before eating, after playing sport & when re-entering to the house
– Heightened cleaning in all boarding facilities
– Reduced threshold for determining if a boarder is generally unwell
– Boys who present with COVID-like symptoms will be assessed, isolated, tested and sent home where practical
– Staff who become unwell will stay home & be tested – supervisors, cleaners, nurses & dining room staff
– Regular review by staff of boarding COVID practices
Continuing to follow all MOE/MOH guidelines

Winter Boarding Catch Up
We are deeply disappointed not to be able to proceed with this Friday’s Winter Boarding Catch Up, due to the limitation on gatherings and social events at Level 2.

This is especially disappointing, given the significantly positive response by parents to coming.
Interviews
You will receive feedback about your son’s academic progress in the next few days, once we have established the best way of doing this.
Concert
Boarding will consider the best option for presenting our annual pyramids to parents. One possibility is that we film the boys performing the pyramids and send parents a copy.

We would like to thank the Nelson College Music Department, as well as our boarders, for all of their time spent over the last few weeks in preparation for this concert. In particular, we thank Fergus Monk for his organisation of the pyramids.

Thank you again for your willing support of Nelson College Boarding.

Ngā mihi,
Samme Hippolite

Greymouth – Agfest

The AgFest team are excited to announce new dates for 2020 to be held at the Greymouth Aerodrome on Friday November 13^th and Saturday November 14^th this year.

I would like to say thank you for the last one and a half years I could spend in boarding.

But I will start at the beginning.

As a child, I was a bookworm. I read almost every book I could get and sometimes all night through. At this time most of the books I read were written by Enid Blyton. Some of you might know her. She was a British author whose stories were often set in boardinghouses. I was fascinated and imagined about living in such a world. So did I dream about living in Harry Potters world. A school for magicians seemed like the coolest place I could go to.

While I grew up in Germany I began to learn English in year three. I’ve never had a talent for languages, which made me one of the worst students in my class. But I had to change something about it. I knew if I want to become successful someday I would have to be able to speak fluent English. My grandma, who was an English teacher suggested me to do an exchange year. One of my friends went to a boarding school in England for three months and told me about her experience. After that, I was sure about going to a boarding school. My dream of an exchange year combined with the dream of boarding brought me to this little city called Nelson.

Arrived in Nelson, boarding was different than expected. They were no food fights or matt sliding at night. We also didn’t have a dining hall as Harry Potter did. But we got a brotherhood closer than any of the movies ever described. I realised pretty fast that the people and the memories you make in boarding actually count. Yet I would consider these boys as my second family and don’t really want to leave them in a month. Coming to Nelson taught me to adapt to a new culture. The boarding- house also taught me to be tidy, to be independent and that mom is still the best cook. Some of these boys live since almost five years together, see each other every single day and still haven’t killed each other. I think that is pretty impressive. Being loyal to your friends gets a new definition in boarding and I’m sure some of these friendships will stick a lifelong.

When I will leave New Zealand in one and a half months I will remember these boys. I will remember the evenings when we went with Mr Mardon for a swim in the river.

I will remember playing football with 70 people on the field at the same time which didn’t work out at all.

I will remember all the hours we spent on pyramids and house singing to get an acceptable result.

Nelson College and its borders got a place in my heart. I made hundreds or even thousands of great memories at this place and might tell these stories to my grandchildren someday.

I would like to say thank you to the staff of the boarding house who took always care of I would like to say thank you to Mr Mardon who has been working full time to make every single boarder happy. I would like to say thank you to Debbie and especially Georgina who has been my second mom for the past one and a half years. I would like to say thank you to Josh and all the other year 13s who were some of the greatest people I have ever met. And I would like to say thank you to all of you boys who made boarding to the best experience of my life.

Thank you for every moment I could spend in boarding with you.

Thank you

Boarding Head Boy 2018

TV One news – Nelson College Boarding

Boarding Highlights – Day 19

Nelson College

Matt Gunter Memorial Boarding Rugby Tournament 2017