BIKES KINDLY DONATED BY THE P&F
// Boarding 28
St Hilda’s has been welcoming Boarders into their community since 1906. The multimillion dollar refurbishment to the Boarding House facilities will ensure this continues to happen for years to come. The refurbishment has transformed the Boarding House to a state of the art facility for the girls to call their ‘home away from home’. The staged refurbishment provides our boarding families with an environment that is welcoming, vibrant and exciting. The bedrooms have been upgraded to welcoming spaces for boarders to make their own. The common areas mirror home living spaces and balconies open up the communal spaces to our oval and swimming pool areas which allow our girls to feel more connected to the campus and the broader community. All boarders have access to the extensive school facilities after school hours and the boarding staff organises and co-ordinates a range of activities for the girls both within and outside the School to keep them stimulated socially. From an educational point of view, the School offers specialised academic support through our Tutoring Centre and our boarders have access to Year level Prep Tutors during the evening prep sessions. Our “Ready to Board” online literacy and numeracy program allows the prospective new boarders in Year 7 to commence their learning journey with us prior to enrolment. Our orientation program helps to build relationships with both current boarders and fellow incoming boarders prior to commencement.
In 2020 the Boarding House was home to 98 full time boarders. We managed to host our exchange girls from South Africa before the worldwide pandemic changed how our world operated. The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 changed our boarding landscape for 2020. Girls were sent home for remote learning for a three week period. On return there were strict hygiene protocols in place which saw boarders having dinner in two sittings and families’ access was restricted into the Boarding House to ensure everyone was adhering to the hygiene protocols and all girls were healthy and free of any flu like symptoms. All recreation activities on the weekend were run in-house and all girls were COVID tested if they were unwell. If girls became unwell they needed to leave the Boarding House until they were free of any flu like symptoms for 24 hours. Our Dean of Boarding, Rachel Stenslunde, ensures the boarding environment guides our girls to develop into caring, compassionate and confident adults ready to contribute to the world around them. Under her leadership the Boarding House staff foster strong relationships between the boarders, their families and the academic staff. A strong sense of family and mutual respect is cultivated in all aspects of Boarding House life as we strive to provide a vibrant place for our girls to develop.
