BOARDING

FINALIST: BOARDING SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

In 2021 the Boarding House was home to 107 full time boarders of which five girls were international boarders from China, Hong Kong and Indonesia. We also welcomed ten girls through our partnership with Madalah. Madalah provides scholarship funding to Indigenous girls across various partner schools. The Scholarship recipients were supported throughout the year by our Indigenous Coordinator, Madalah mentors and Boarding staff. Our “Ready to Board” online literacy and numeracy program allows the new Boarders in Year 7 to commence their learning journey with us prior to starting the following year as well as connect with our Boarding Team. Our orientation program helps to build relationships with both current boarders and fellow incoming boarders. 2021 continued to be dominated by the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 and this continued to halt any international and national travel which hugely impacted our international boarders to return home. The benefit for our girls through the pandemic was the move to one-to-one learning device which allowed our Boarders to access online learning while at home. The boarders were sent home for online learning at the commencement of Term 1 and again in Term 2. On return the focus for the Boarding team was increased hygiene protocols. These new measures saw boarders having dinner in two settings to allow them to spread out as a group and families’ access was restricted into the Boarding House to ensure all girls were healthy and free of any flu like symptoms. All recreation activities on the weekend were carefully scrutinised to ensure the girls were not unduly exposed to the virus. St Hilda’s has been welcoming boarders into their community since 1906 and the completion of the refurbishment has transformed the Boarding House into a state of the art facility for the girls to call their ‘home away from home’. The year was highlighted by St Hilda’s being recognised as a finalist for Boarding School of the Year in the prestigious Australian Education Awards for 2021. Becoming a finalist demonstrates that we are offering one of the best boarding experiences in Australia and is a testament to our Boarding team’s unwavering commitment to providing the best home away from home.

All boarders have access to the extensive school facilities after school hours and the boarding staff organise and co-ordinate a range of activities for the girls both internally and externally to keep them stimulated socially. From an educational point of view, the School offers specialised academic support through the Tutoring Centre and our boarders have access to Year level Prep Tutors during the evening prep sessions. The role of the Dean of Boarding, Rachel Stenslunde, is to ensure 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 school staff. A strong sense of family and mutual respect is cultivated in all aspects of Boarding House life.