BEN MURRAY 2017 Head of Boarding
As Head of Boarding, Ben Murray represents 145 boarders, with 34 of these having started this year. We asked him for his views on the boarding experience.
Tell me about your background, your family connections to College, and your experience of boarding. I have lived all my life in the Scargill Valley, an hour north of Christchurch, on a sheep and beef farm, where my dad was also brought up. I went to Greta Valley Primary School, along with my twin brother. That school had around 30 people, so moving to College was quite a change – where some classrooms had more kids than we had at our entire school. On my Dad’s side of the family, I had a lot of connections with College. My dad, cousins, uncles, grandad, and even my great-grandad, had all attended College, and all in School House. I have enjoyed boarding at College from day one, even though it was a new experience for my brother and me. I admired and looked up to the Year 13s when I was in Year 9, even if I felt like it was going to take about a century before I reached that point! Now I am there – and being in this position and being the role model I aspired to become, I cannot wait for the rest of the year.
have to find out the interests of senior boys and build a programme for them? To get this going I am talking with the seniors to see what activities they really want to do. It could be as simple as a swim at the beach for the day, or fishing trips and hunting trips for the weekend. We want to get the boys out of their Houses and having fun. What are the good things about boarding? My favourites at College are the three House systems, the cubes, the facilities, prep times with academic staff available and the food (my personal favourite is breakfast). If you had the chance, what things about boarding do you think College should keep, what should College get rid of and what changes should College implement? Because our boarding system is already one of the best, if not the best, in the country, there is nothing to get rid of, so everything should be kept! However, being involved in sport and having been a part of rowing, I would like to see if we could provide the boys with an afternoon tea, as it is a long time between lunch and dinner. What plans do you have to make new Year 9 boarders feel at home? A major one is for the older boys to build relationships between the year groups to bind the House together with seniors as the big brothers of the House.
What do you consider your main goal as Head of Boarding? A main goal of mine is to lead by example in the boarding community. I would also like to extend the number of role models for younger boys, with all boarding prefects and senior leaders showing Another goal is to have the three boarding Houses running with similar systems, while still retaining their unique cultures. Why? The reason for having seniors lead by example is because, when I was in my junior years, I aspired to be like a few of the older boys and this has influenced my attitude towards College life and being in the boarding community. The current boarding programme is great for Years 9 and 10. How do you think College can provide for senior boarders? What plans do you juniors how it is to live in the College boarding community.
Christ’s College Canterbury
54
Made with FlippingBook HTML5