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Business View Oceania - October/November 2017
Genuine support
Another major focus for CGS Board-
ing, is developing cross-generational
relationships between the students.
Specifically, having older students
leading, mentoring and guiding the
younger ones. Not just in an academ-
ic sense, but in their conduct and their
behaviour, connecting them through
sports training, and other similar pro-
gram schemes.
Downey explained: “We’re trying to
get that feeling that the older students
aren’t in charge because of some an-
cient kind of hierarchy, but that they’re
there to lead by example.”
And for the staff it’s the same.
The school tries to make sure that
everything they do is from that posi-
tion of caring for students, and not just
for the sake of keeping them in check.
Trying to make the boarding environ-
ment a positive one is one of the hard-
est things for all boarding institutions.
This is a place where students spend
more time with staff than at home.
“Thirty-seven to thirty-eight weeks a
year, they’re a boarder, fourteen to fif-
teen they’re at home,” Downey tells us.
“It’s hard work, and it’s intense, but
we’re doing our best to create an at-
mosphere of homeliness and comfort
and an environment which feels open
and caring not necessarily an institu-
tion.”
The school also encourages its stu-
dents to encompass this open, car-
ing culture into their own natures and