Welcome to this episode of Destination Boarding where we talk about boarding school with families, ex-students, industry leaders and the executives of the schools themselves.
Today we’re talking with Kate Kovacs – Kate is the Director of Boarding at Loreto Normanhurst. A school in Sydney’s northern suburbs that has a long history of catholic girls education and country boarding.
As with many modern day boarding houses, the mix is changing – there’s overseas boarders, metro boarders that come in during the week, but the core for most of our Australian boarding schools remains country – whether that’s remote, rural or large regional centres.
In this interview Kate takes us on her career path and how she came to be so involved with boarding at Loreto – now as Head of Boarding. Spanning over 30 years Kate is proud of her Loreto community and has certainly seen the changes and shifting dynamics of a boarding community… though it’s pretty evident that one thing remains true. The culture within the school is enhanced, indeed somewhat driven by the boarders.
I think we all really know this don’t we… but it’s great to hear it repeatedly as I do from the schools themselves. Hat in hand or not, when families from rural and regional areas look at boarding school as an option, do we put a value on the cultural assets they arrive with ?
I’m really pleased to let you know that Kate is also a Guest Panellist for our Australian Boarding Schools Summit streaming live on 13 October this year. She’ll be joining me and three other panellists to discuss how we can best support our teenager from afar along with the boarding staff within the house.