Boarding Schools Expo marketing communications specialist, Kim V. Goldsmith is mum to a school leaver. She gives a somewhat light-hearted take on the serious topic of what it takes to get your soon-to-be ex-boarding, school leaver ready to enter the ‘real’ world. You endure 13 years of school, along with the endless paperwork and appointments…
Blog – Parenting
Boarding school: tips from the frontline
One of the great things about Boarding Schools Expo is not just the events we host each year that bring boarding schools and families from rural and regional NSW together under the one roof, it’s the resources we gather over time. Resources that help families make the right decision for them about what schools to…
Life after school: financial preparation
BY RYAN TAYLOR, FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIANS* Many students upon completion of high school choose to venture off on a “schoolies” trip with friends, a trip abroad, university studies, or immediately land a job and start working. Regardless of which option they choose, being prepared and having the financial know-how for their future can…
Life after school: motivation and discipline
BY RYAN TAYLOR, FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIANS* The comfort of school will soon be coming to an end for this year’s graduates, with major works and exams around the corner. While school may not seem like the most comforting place during stressful times such as exam week or the night before (or morning of)…
Jodie Crowe: boarding is an adjustment for everyone
Living 50km north of Moree, Jodie and Andrew Crowe had discussed the idea of boarding school before the first of their six children arrived. It was something they felt was right for them but would take some adjustment as each child left home. As for choosing what schools would best suit their children, it was…
Fiona Aveyard: keeping an open mind
Fiona and Bill Aveyard from Tullamore have approached the search for boarding schools for their brood of four children with an open mind…and some time on their side. Both went to boarding school, Kinross Wolaroi School and The Scots College, respectively. As Fiona told Boarding School Expo’s Kim V. Goldsmith, boarding school was generally a positive…
Early lessons about money
BY RYAN TAYLOR, FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIANS* Children learn so much from parents. Unfortunately, managing money is a topic you will also need to teach your children about. However, it can be very easy to put them on the right track early on. Some of the best ways to teach your children about money…
Stephanie Day: boarding is far from an easy option
Stephanie Day from Wagga Wagga is a mother of three children – Harry (finished 2014), Lachie (finished 2016), and Sophie (who will finish this year). In the transition to becoming a boarding parent, she opened her gallery, Paper Pear, clocking up an undisclosed number of kilometres as a boarding mum and ‘Art Gypsy’. Loving it…
Amanda Ferrari: breaking the binds of tradition
Amanda Ferrari hails from Trangie, on the Central Western Plains of NSW. She’s still starry-eyed over the fact that she managed to snag a farmer, and has been married to Ross for 22 years. They have three children, twins Amy and Annabel, who are completing their university studies in Sydney. Both girls attended Abbotsleigh, and…
Meeting the needs of contemporary boarders: Part 2
Continuing from our last blog post on the changing face of contemporary boarding, now we look specifically at the needs of boarders, and the expectations of their parents. In her research into the Australian boarding industry, Ascham School’s Head of Boarding Sue Newton has noted the needs of adolescents and their parents, along with parental…
The changing face of contemporary boarding: Part 1
The days of ice-cold showers in open area bathrooms, unidentifiable food, military-style dormitories with regulation bedspreads (hospital corners, please) and white sheets stiff as boards with starch, are long gone in Australian boarding schools. Along with banishing the austere living conditions of decades past, went the idea that boarding was just a place to live…
Handling exam stress
Mel Scolari: happy schools mean happy children
Mel and Ado Scolari of Narromine are parents of three children aged between 12 and 19, who have been or are currently at boarding schools in Sydney. They went into the process of choosing schools with a very clear idea of what they were looking for. Kim V. Goldsmith caught up with Mel to talk about…
Taking the fear out of finding a school
Under the Bridge
There is a high likelihood your teen will be exposed to drugs and alcohol in their high school years. There is a good chance that they will try these. Why? It’s available, they’re risk-takers, they feel alienated, their friends, or those they idolise are doing it. Confronting?!? As a mum, who formerly worked in the…
Building confidence, takes baby steps
The seriously impressive Megan Dalla-Carmina, a strategist, coach, writer, speaker and researcher, penned a timeless article titled “The truth about becoming more confident”. In her words, building confidence takes babysteps. Like purpose, confidence does not strike us all at once and from that moment on we conquer the world. No, confidence and for that matter…