What was the Boarding Council up to in Term One?

Open Day 2023

This year's School Open Day was very busy and different with the afternoon of Friday 10 March focused on all things Boarding. The weather saw last-minute changes happen overnight with displays set up in the Chapel rather than on Cherrington Lawn but all was good with Mrs Debbie Stevens and Mrs Penny Weinberg in charge. After welcoming talks from Rev Stephen, Whaea Jackie, and Mrs Curran to potential boarders and their parents, it was awesome to hear from Charlotte B and her real experiences as a third-generation boarder - her mum and grandma were Dio boarders. Plus, she and her two young sisters are all in boarding (Charlotte in Year 13, Rachel in Year 11, and Amy in Year 9) now too. Year 13 and 12 boarders were then tour guides through the day and boarding schools. It was great to be able to share our experiences with our visitors this day.

Valentines Day Celebrations 

Valentine's Day is a special day in boarding where we show our love and appreciation for one another. The girls had a good start to their day waking up to a small note with a little chocolate outside their door, Valentine’s decorations around the boarding house, cupcakes baked by Miss Maree, and the day ended with an exciting themed dinner attended by Mrs Curran, Rev Stephen, and Mrs Maree. Thank you to Brad and the catering team for the yummy pizza dinner and pink doughnuts for dessert! Thank you to Miss Maree, Whaea Kim, and her whaanau for the wonderful decorations.  

Chapel at St Paul's Collegiate

On the evening of Sunday, 12 March our Dio boarders attended a chapel service at St Paul's Collegiate. We learned that resilience is not about being tough, it's about adaptability and finding ways to overcome obstacles in life. Catherine Curry, Meg Crawford, and Jayha Egan did an awesome job in representing Dio by being part of the chapel service. We look forward to hosting St Paul’s next term.

Easter Theme Dinner and Celebrations 

Easter is an important part of our Special Character and in Boarding, we celebrated this special time with decorations, supper, and theme dinner. Mr and Mrs Curran and Rev Stephen were our special guests. We are also grateful to have been taught about some of the symbols of Easter and remembering Jesus Christ at this special time of year. At our theme dinner, we also awarded prizes to the winners of our Easter-themed Colouring Competition The winners were from Year 11 Bella Alexander and Sophie Hunter, and Year 10 Asha Rose Baker, and Savarnah Boyce-Bacon. A special mention was to River Rose, Whaea Kim’s 6-year-old daughter and the overall winner of the competition was Julia Zhou. The best-dressed award and person who best embodied the Easter theme was Jessica Steele.

Our senior boarders were doubly blessed this night by Whaea Gwen, Whaea Jess, and Selina in Senior Boarding who prepared a delicious supper and decorated Holland House all in the celebration of Easter. We also ended the term with an Easter Egg Hunt for our Years 9 to 11 boarders, Evening Supper of Hot Cross Buns and Milo, and Guess How Many Eggs in the Jar Competition. Unfortunately, no one guessed the correct number and so all the easter eggs were donated to Women's Refuge. 

Thank you to all our house parents, the boarding council, and the catering team that made our Easter celebrations that extra special and focused on their true meaning.

Easter Baskets and knitted blankets in Boarding

After some investigation from Whaea Jackie on finding a box full of beautiful knitted blankets, we remembered that a few years ago squares were knitted by the boarding students, whaanau and staff and were destined for donation. We decided as a council to also include these blankets as part of our annual delivery of Easter Baskets to local rest homes for our elderly to enjoy especially in the Winter.

We are looking forward to term two in boarding and all being in the same waka together - He waka eke noa.