Boarders' choice: a home away from home

For some, separation from a child during the school year is unimaginable. For others, particularly families from regional and remote areas, boarding schools are a lifeline.

The Association of Independent Schools of NSW says 5701 students boarded at independent schools across NSW last year. This figure has been stable over the past decade with only minor fluctuations. There are also about 825 boarders in the state's three state boarding schools, the NSW Department of Education and Training says.

Boarding schools have changed significantly in one generation and emerging research suggests that students who board are significantly more positive about the relationship with their parents than day students.

This may be one explanation for a growing number of ''city boarders'' - students who choose to live at school in the same city they live in for various reasons, including the structure that it offers or the convenience it provides to busy families where both parents are working long hours.

The headmaster of St Joseph's College Hunters Hill (Joey's), Ross Tarlinton, says boarding has changed drastically in the past few decades and is no longer seen as an antiquated, strict form of schooling where parents dump their children and run.

''Those days are gone,'' he says. ''From just around our postcode we have 49 boarders - some actually live in streets around the college … parents feel it is a wonderful structure for learning, promotes good time management, cuts out travel time and the kids are here for all the activities. Families say it contributes to the quality of family life.''

Sean and Colette Parker live in Hunters Hill. Their son, Josh, is in year 12 at St Joseph's and began boarding this year.

''It was his choice and from the first day he just loved it,'' Colette says. ''The whole routine - they go and study, go to dinner, go to bed - it is a simple structure that is really good for boys and doesn't have the distractions of home, like trying to get them off Facebook or going to the fridge all the time. He is more connected now, he feels part of it. But he doesn't feel removed from us … we live so close we could go and pick him up in an ad break and be back.''

''My father used to threaten to send us to boarding school if we weren't doing well, now we have to threaten with not sending them to boarding school,'' Sean adds.

The head of boarding at Joey's, John Reading, says the second-largest intake of boarders are from Hunters Hill and immediate surrounding suburbs. The highest intake are from Dubbo.

''There has always been a bigger percentage of local boarders than people think,'' he says. ''People often think of boarders as country kids. We began offering weekly boarding in 2006 and since then there has been a steady increase in local boarders.''

The headmistress of Abbotsleigh in Wahroonga, Judith Poole, says the school has a strong policy on the order in which boarders are accepted. First priority are girls from country NSW - ''girls from the land, daughters of graziers, and the reason for this is that opportunities for education of our style are limited in these areas''.

The second priority are girls from regional areas such as Dubbo and Newcastle. The third priority is ex-patriots - ''daughters of diplomats and business people who are living overseas''. Fourth priority is ''a handful of international students - five or six - this brings diversity and exposure to different cultures''. The fifth priority is girls from city families - ''we rarely get to offer city places. I have a lot of requests but we can't provide places.''

Poole says diversity is important as the day students from Abbotsleigh tend to come from the upper north shore and have their own culture: ''Country girls are coming from a different life and have a different work ethic - the girls benefit from learning from each other.''

And boarding school is not just for secondary students.

Tudor House in the southern highlands caters for kindergarten to year 6 boy boarders.

The school says it is the only stand-alone primary boys boarding school in Australia and says it is based on the principle that it should act as an extension of the child's family. It says it encourages a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere for boarders and their families.

Professor Andrew Martin, from the faculty of education and social work at the University of Sydney, is investigating the effects that boarding schools have in a study that will track students in 13 boarding schools in Australia over two years.

''The important thing to disentangle is if it's actually boarding school that has an effect or if there is a particular type of student who is more likely to attend boarding school,'' he says.

''Parents gauge if a child is up to boarding life … there are different reasons why parents send their children to boarding school - some are overseas, some live remotely and others live around the corner … the city boarders [group] is growing partly because of the very busy lives families lead. As modern family and working life changes, there are new reasons to look at education in residence in one way or another.''

After taking in factors such as socio-demographics, ability, personality and school characteristics, preliminary findings from the study suggest general parity in academic and non-academic outcomes between boarding and day students. On factors such as self-efficacy, valuing school, persistence, homework completion, enjoyment of school and class participation, boarding and day students are not significantly different. However, the data shows boarders tend to worry slightly more about failing, Martin says.

This may be because they are in a constant academic environment and they may not be getting perspective that allows them to take poor results in their stride more. This finding would be of major concern if they also scored higher on disengagement but this isn't the case, he says.

''Boarders and day students scored about the same on 20 out of 25 measures regarding how students view the culture and climate of their school. But on five measures they were different - boarders were more positive about the perception and culture of their school.

''They reported greater peer co-operation and a higher perception that students get along; boarders also tend to report a less competitive environment than day students,'' he says.

''Boarders reported less emphasis on achievement at school. This may be because they see their school in broader terms and engage in a range of activities at school.''

When it comes to individual students' relationships with parents, boarders are significantly more positive than day students. Boarding school students also tend to have an advantage on organisational skills.

Martin stresses that these are preliminary findings and more sophisticated analysis will follow after a second round of data is collected.

For some families the decision to go to boarding school remains more necessity than choice, particularly in country areas. The executive director of the Australian Boarding Schools Association, Richard Stokes, says country people may find that their local high school only offers distance education. ''The academic standards at boarding schools are strong … there is not nearly the distraction they have at home,'' he says.

''It's not like it used to be - people thought boarding schools were terrible and it used to be that some were but this is no longer the case as they would be shut down. In many cases boarders have a better standard of living.''

The association runs a duty of care certificate course for teachers involved with residential education covering philosophy and child safety through to how to meet pastoral and academic needs.

''Teachers at boarding schools give up a lot of time, extra time, to look after someone else's kids - not everyone is made for that. But it is a very special relationship,'' Stokes says.

Yanco Agricultural High School, near Griffith, is the only fully residential (no day students) government high school in NSW.

Yanco was established as a state boarding high school for boys in 1922, becoming coeducational in 1993.

For some students at Yanco the chance to be among other young people is welcomed because isolation in their own home communities is so extreme.

And, as Yanco is coeducational, for some families it is the first time siblings can be together after several years of separate schooling.

Yanco is also a refuge for some. Hannah Powe, from Cargo, is in year 12 at Yanco and is vice-captain.

''I came at the beginning of year 11 because the ratio of students to animals at some other ag schools is 20 to one and it's hard to learn and have hands-on experience but it's different here,'' she says. ''I'm aiming to be a vet; I'm doing all the subjects but we'll see.''

School captain Luke Olsson, from Temora, says friendship is the most important aspect of his time at Yanco. ''I started here in year 9 and didn't fancy the idea of boarding school at all but from the first week I loved it. The friendship does that,'' he says.

Yanco's grounds seem surprisingly calm considering the school is home to more than 350 teenagers.

The principal, Daryl Finch, says the key to the school functioning well is that the students need to get along.

''You will have issues with more than 350 kids 24 hours a day but the kids are well supported and we can address these issues … our best product is our kids,'' he says. ''There are no airs and graces about them - and nothing worries them. And they're a tight family. If someone hurts one on the street, they have 350 brothers and sisters who will turn around to help. They have academic aspirations but they have many other aspirations, too.''

Of the 40 teaching staff, about half live on campus in dormitories. The teachers in residence, known as house parents, help wake students, prepare them for the day and put them to bed.

For students in years 7 to 10 there are generally eight students in a dormitory room. Individual areas are decorated with photos, posters and notes and trinkets from other students.

A dormitory prefect from year 11 is allocated to each dorm and has an enclosed room in the corner. The dormitory prefect is responsible for ''helping the younger students, making sure they are up in the morning, reminding them where they have to be and settling things down at night. Pretty much mothering them and helping generally,'' says school captain Katie Beal, of Harden, a dormitory prefect last year.

All year 12 girls have their own room.

Finch says: ''For teachers it is a great learning curve - the kids are very compliant here but you have the opportunity to work with them closely and really practise your teaching skills.

''The living skills of kids who want to come here matter, too. I will ask at interview things like if they make their own bed and some parents look horrified. But we have a very close relationship with families - more so than in a normal school I think. The rules are fairly strict here though.''

''And fair enough,'' Luke says.