Life in the dorms popular again

For many working families, secondary school does not mean a let-up in childcare pressures, and for those who can afford it, boarding school can be an option.

While some schools have phased out boarding over the years, there are still around 11,000 pupils at private and state boarding schools around the country. The children normally come from middle-class or well-off homes - unless they win scholarships - and fork out the $7000-$10,000 annual cost, plus school fees.

According to the converted, boarding school exposes children to a huge range of activities, helps them acquire good study habits and provides expert tutors on tap.

The students will learn good socialising skills and immerse themselves in their school. And there will be no home-alone problems.

The culture of boarding schools has changed quite markedly since today's parents were young, says Sonia Wells, national co-ordinator of the New Zealand Boarding Association. The staff are far more skilled, with training up to degree level for boarding school care, she says.

Rather than living at the school all term, British public school style, the bulk of students board five days a week and go home on weekends. Communication between the house masters, parents and children is vastly improved, thanks to email and mobile phones.

"Boarding is now a co-op between your school, home and the boarding house. There is very much the feeling of working with the parents," says Wells.

And surprisingly, it is not always the parents who initiate the idea of going to boarding school. Mara Zondag, a 17-year-old from Coromandel, actively searched the web for a boarding school because her local school did not offer the subjects she was interested in. She is now head boarder at St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton, which enrols girls in the last two years of school.

Her parents, Berry and Meri, have no regrets about their decision. Mara's social life has taken off, she is in the school soccer team, plays water polo and when she comes home on weekends, she often brings a friend or two.

Determined to become a marine biologist, her schoolwork has improved enormously since her arrival at the co-ed school.

"She really has to work for what she wants but she is not afraid to get help where and when she needs it," says her father.

The family's financial sacrifice is not insubstantial. The annual fees are $12,300 plus $9818 for boarding.

"She is only 17. I am looking at it as an investment that is going to pay back over 60 years' time," says Berry.

An interesting trend in boarding school pupils today, is that it is not just for children, like Mara, living in remote areas. Students quite often live locally. "It is the supervision the parents like," says Wells.

King's College in South Auckland accommodates many local boys.

"King's is more than just a place you go to from 9am-3pm," says the schools admissions director, Schalk van Wyk, who adds there are 410 boarders on a roll of 950.

"This is a very 24/7 sort of place, things are happening all the time. The boarders have more access to cultural and sporting acitivities simply because they are here. Almost all of the rowers board, because they are up at 5am."

Kate Coughlan, Remuera mum and publisher/editor of New Zealand Life & Leisure magazine, sent her children to board at Auckland's St Cuthbert's and King's Colleges. With her ex-husband in Wellington and a busy career, it was a good solution.

"It was a combination of building independence in the family. It also allowed them to go to their school and work hard all week to Friday and then Saturday was much more relaxed and pleasurable.

"As a single parent it was useful for me to have another set of adult expectations - it was helpful that it was not only their mother who thought hanging up a bath towel was a good idea," says Coughlan.

Daughter Ellie Trotter started boarding at St Cuthbert's when she was 14 and in sixth form went to King's College. Says Ellie: "Mum had concerns because she worked so late and I was by myself for a large part of the afternoon. Mum thought it would be better for me to be constantly surrounded by people and I would have all the resources at my fingertips."

Trotter admits she was reluctant at first to board. "But when I got there I think it helped me so much: getting work done, making friends, getting into the school culture.

"You learn good work habits. It forces you to sit down for a couple of hours every night. When you are living at home there are other temptations."

Of the 120 girls attending King's, 50 board and many more want to, says van Wyk.

Of course, not every child flourishes in an institution, but for the students who prove they are responsible, many boarding schools give live-in students a fairly free rein.

"The kids could come to the ballet or opera with me. [At King's] it was a campus system and both children had vehicles," says Coughlan.

Not all children are right for boarding. Sally Urry, a Parnell mother of two boys and two girls aged 13 to 19, has sent sons Charlie and Tom to King's College boarding school while daughters Hannah and Maddy go to day school at Diocesan.

"With four children around, it is a busy house and they are home from lunchtime Saturday, so we still have a lot of family time at weekends. It was definitely the right decision for us, for the family," says Urry.

At some cost though. Fees at King's College are $16,000-$17,000 for tuition, and $10,792 to board.

"It was a priority and we did not think twice about it. For us it was the right decision."

She cautions: "It has not all been fabulous every minute for five years ... if I said that I'd be lying, but overall it was the right decision."

The King's boarding situation is a fairly rarified experience, although van Wyk says: "We do have bursaries for boarding but don't get a huge number of applications."

State schools are more affordable, with nominal fees and the boarding charges are more in the $7000 to $8000 range.

Auckland Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar have small but popular boarding facilities.

At Auckland Grammar, there is room for just 122 boarders out of the the school's roll of 2500. The boarders live at Tibbs House.

Senior house master Grant Hansen, who says boys have to live more than 30km away from the school to become boarders, says the demand for more places is huge and the school is looking at the possiblity of accommodating more.

The parents like the strict study regime.

"We do a prep for two hours, six days a week, and all the masters are fulltime teachers as well so you get expert tuition," says Hansen.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY