How many boarders are there at Abbotsleigh?
There are about 170 boarders from Year 7 to Year 12. This comprises more than one sixth of the Senior School population.

 

Where do most of the boarders come from?
Most of our boarders come from country NSW. We also have some overseas boarders and a few who live in greater Sydney.

 

What kind of access do parents have to their daughters and what leave allowance do the girls have?
Parents have unlimited access to their daughters, either by phone, email or in person. Parents are welcome to have dinner in the dining room if they are in Sydney and may take their daughters out for afternoon tea or dinner at any time. If parents are staying in Sydney for a few days, they may even have their daughters with them and send them to school as ‘day girls’ for that time. Friends and family are also welcome to have dinner anytime and to come to Chapel on Sunday evening if they wish.

 

Girls enjoy liberal leave. Apart from three or four compulsory weekend activities during the year, girls may go out on any weekend (staff will recommend otherwise if they deem it advisable). We are; however, very strict about obtaining leave: both the parent AND host family must contact the student's Boarding Coordinator if anyone other than family members is taking the student out for the day or weekend. We take our duty of care very seriously.

 

What is the structure of the boarding school? How are girls supervised and cared for?
At Abbotsleigh we have four boarding houses. The girls in each house are looked after by a Boarding Coordinator who makes sure that all the daily needs of the girls are met. She is there to wake the girls up in the morning and get them off to school and she is there when the girls come home from school in the afternoon. There are three resident assistants in each house who help the Coordinator. Coordinators are the first point of contact for boarder parents and they develop a strong partnership with each other, liaising regarding leave and academic and pastoral issues. Parents are most welcome to discuss any aspect of boarding with the Coordinator or Head of Boarding at any time.

 

What time is set aside for homework, supervision and extra tuition?
All girls have compulsory prep periods. The length of these times depends on the year group. The School provides free tutoring to Middle School boarders, especially in Year 7 as girls enter Abbotsleigh from diverse academic backgrounds. Boarding staff liaise with day school staff and counsellors to provide the best possible academic and pastoral care of the girls. All boarders have access to the library and computer rooms after school hours. The School also offers free tuition in selected academic subjects after school to any student who wishes to use this facility.

 

What can the girls do after school?
Most girls are busy after school, either at sport or music practices or other co-curricular activities. The School offers extended tuition in a range of activities, from gymnastics to silver jewellery making, from speech and drama to swimming and diving and the ever popular dance classes. See AbbSchool for further details of extended tuition activities. Girls may also go down to the Wahroonga village with permission. Girls in Years 7 are accompanied by senior boarders, Years 8 to 10 girls may go down in groups and senior girls may go alone. All girls have a one hour limit on village leave.

 

How do the girls contact home and vice versa?
Every boarder has access to house phones. She is given a PIN number that enables her to ring home and the cost is charged to her account. Mobile phones may also be used. Girls in Years 7 to 10 are required to hand in their phones at bed time and can pick them up in the morning. Year 7 boarders do not take their phones to school but may pick them up when they arrive back at the boarding house in the afternoon. Parents and friends are asked not to ring during prep time or after lights out. Boarders also have an Abbotsleigh email account and can email home and friends by this means. Social networking sites such as Facebook are opened for a limited time on weekends.

 

What if my daughter is homesick?
Nearly every boarder is homesick at one time or another, especially when they first join the school. It is to be expected and often it is the parents who feel the worst. When new boarders arrive in Year 7, they are given a ‘Big Sister’, a Year 12 boarder who is the new boarder's special friend and mentor. The big sister may take her little sister down to the village for a milkshake or to get something needed for class, and often the senior girls visit their little sisters in their house for a game or a video. Girls who join the boarding house in later years are given a buddy from their year group who looks after her while she settles in. The School also has a ‘City Family Scheme’. Every Middle School boarder is matched with a local Abbotsleigh family who enjoys taking their boarder out on weekends, perhaps a birthday lunch or a family outing. Boarders often reciprocate the hospitality during school holidays, and often lifetime friendships between the families are forged.

 

What happens if my daughter doesn't get on with her room mates?
Once girls get to know each other, they are invited to request to room with a special friend. These requests are nearly always accommodated, and usually the girls get on well together. Years 11 and 12 boarders live in the state of the art Wheeldon House, where girls enjoy single rooms with an ensuite bathroom shared between two. In Years 7-10, boarders are, as a rule, accommodated in rooms of two or four. If there is conflict in a room, the Boarding Coordinator puts in place strategies for conflict resolution and for each new term the boarding staff may change the room configurations according to the needs and requests of the girls.

 

Is boarding food as awful as people expect?
No. Boarders enjoy a wide selection of food every day. A qualified nutritionist and dietician liaises with our Food Services Manager to ensure that a balanced diet is available to girls. Vegetarians and girls with special dietary needs are of course catered for. At dinner time there is always a salad bar, rice and pasta in addition to the menu for the day. The menu is constantly changing and we often have special nights where girls have suggested a particular theme or nationality of dishes. In the summer terms we have a weekly barbecue on the lawn. There is a Food Committee where representatives from each house discuss menu choices with the Food Services Manager and Chef.

 

Whilst all the boarding staff have the happiness and welfare of the boarders as their priority, we don't pretend to be mum or dad and we believe that relationship to be the most important a girl can have. We therefore regard our relationship with parents as a partnership and welcome discussion about any aspect of your daughter's happiness and progress at any time.