Assessing boarding schools

The Boarding School Collective is helping rural families decide if a boarding school will be right for their child.

Story Ken Eastwood  Photo The Boarding School Collective

Families in rural and remote areas have the opportunity to assess boarding school options side by side multiple times a year, thanks to The Boarding School Collective’s free expos featuring up to 40 independent, government and Catholic schools each time. Held from Mt Isa in Far North Queensland through to regional centres such as Tamworth, NSW, the expos help rural families ask questions to see if boarding is right for them, according to founder and director of The Boarding School Collective, Amanda Ferrari. And, as a result, it is helping families stay living in rural areas, rather than moving closer to big schools in urban areas.

“People sometimes leave rural areas when they think they can’t afford boarding school or they think that boarding school isn’t for them,” she says. “We need to ensure our people stay and that they’re confident in their school decisions. It’s not always financial.”

Amanda says it’s quite rightly a “long conversation” for a family to decide to send a child to boarding school, and common comments she hears at the expos include, “I have no idea what boarding school is about”; “none of my family went to boarding school”; or “I can’t hand over the reins of my child’s life to someone else”. “It’s about making that whole thought process easier,” she says. “They can get used to the idea, come and talk to schools, get a grip on what they’re offering.”