A List of Boarding Schools in Melbourne and How to Choose the Right One

A Team Tuition|10/05/2021|Advice For Parents, High School

Melbourne Boarding Schools – How to Choose the Right School for Your Child

Choosing a boarding school for your child is among the most important decisions a parent can make. The right boarding school will help your child flourish academically, develop independence and learn life skills inaccessible to day students. As the official Tutoring Partner to the Australian Boarding Schools Association, our team has worked with boarders across Australia. There are a few key elements that make all the difference for kids boarding at school. So, how do you choose the right boarding school in Melbourne?

Melbourne Boarding School Options

At the most fundamental level, you’ll start by selecting from the gender cohort and affiliation.

Girls Only Boarding Schools

Boys Only Boarding Schools

Co-Ed Boarding Schools

For other locations in Victoria or across Australia, view the Australian Boarding Schools Association website.

What to look for in a Melbourne boarding school

Choosing the right boarding school is more than looking at their QCE results. It’s about understanding the boarder culture and choosing where your child will thrive. When interviewing potential boarding schools here’s our top questions to ask admissions officers:

Do you offer the subjects and facilities my child needs? How is screen time monitored?
How many boarders are at the school and how are they accommodated?
Will my child have privacy and access to quiet places to study?
How much support is offered to boarders to ensure their safety and wellbeing?
How will the school support my child’s spiritual beliefs?
Do you offer academic support for boarders during Prep Time?
What are your policies around boarder behaviour and do you offer counselling to boarders who experience homesickness?
How much independence will my child be granted?
What is your visitor policy and how much access do family and friends have to my child?
Who/how often will the school communicate with parents? What is your student mobile phone policy?
What is your procedure in the case of an emergency?
How is pocket money managed? What are the arrangements for weekend leave?
Can I meet the staff and other boarders prior to making my decision?

What we’ve learned after working in Australia’s leading boarding schools

Our tutors work in boarding schools across Australia, including several leading Melbourne boarding schools. While quality of care for boarders is usually parent’s top concern, we’ve observed that boarder care quality is excellent across all schools in which we work. Boarding schools take extra care to monitor and manage the wellbeing of their charges. What can differ greatly between schools is communications.

Our approach to tutoring in Melbourne means that our tutors become an intrinsic part of your child’s support network. By liaising with your child, the school and parents, we have received feedback that this extra layer of communication, specifically about academic progress, gives parents a far greater insight into boarder school life. Spending “Boarder Prep Time” with kids regularly, gives us the opportunity to observe each child’s behaviour, emotional state and academic progress in depth. With more tutors and fewer students than a regular classroom setting, boarder prep time allows tutors to have more time to focus on each child’s needs. For parents, having a team of tutors working with their kids during boarder prep time, has “closed that gap” that parents may feel when living some distance from their young student.

Learn More About Our Boarding Schools Partnership Program