Emily Patterson is bridging the great divide by sending her kids to country boarding schools.
Hello welcome back to Destination Boarding. Today’s guest is forthright and eloquent with her opinion… so much so that she suggested a couple of redactions before being released – there was even the possibility of re-record but I think you’ll agree we didn’t need to. It’s why we’re here – to have open honest authentic discussions.
Emily Patterson is a Sydney girl, mother of three, nurse and self-confessed rural wannabe. Don’t you love it. She’s also a great advocate for letting children grow into the most authentic, resilient humans they possibly can with limited interference from overarching expectations along the way.
I think we could have chatted all day but the most interesting thing about this episode is Emily and her husband have sent their daughter to boarding school in the country…and they have not stopped raving about the joys ever since.
Look we sprout forth about the pros of boarding school for our country kids all the time here – but rarely do we hear about the city kids that head over the great divide or south or north for that matter.
Scots All Saints at Bathurst was where the Patterson’s chose and in this episode you’ll find out why. After we’d finished recording Emily wanted me to make sure you knew that she doesn’t want to put down Sydney schools, independent or government and she’s really concerned it may seem that way. She just really knew that for their daughter, and their family – it wasn’t for them. She really does go on to say that it’s more about he parent’s expectations and academic competitiveness on behalf of their kids – not the schools’.
The other thing we chatted about after pressing stop on the recording was that we absolutely understand that boarding is not for every child, not for every family. It’s also not a bed of roses. Emily really wanted you to know that – there are certainly challenging times in the boarding house.
We do try to share the good stories about boarding school, we really want families to know their options, consider the alternatives and at the end of the day we recognise that everyone’s situation is unique to them. Absolutely and always.
Anyway on with the show. Enjoy.