St. Mary's Diocesan School for Girls

Our vision for boarding is to provide a safe, fun and supportive environment for the girls in our care. Boarders form part of a special community within the bigger family at St Mary’s.

The new St Mary’s 24-bed boarding house was officially opened by Board members and dignitaries on Friday 7 August 2015.

The beautifully appointed boarding establishment is home to Grade 11 girls with two girls sharing a room. The new house has created more space in boarding generally, and particularly for new pupils interested in applying for Grade 10 boarding in 2016.

Building commenced in January 2015 and the boarding house was handed over by the project team earlier than originally planned - to a very high standard and under budget! The house was carefully designed by architect and St Mary’s Old Girl, Julie de Zeeuw, to be “green” and it has been fitted with heat pumps to conserve water and electricity.

Temporary Boarding

We are excited that we can once again offer ‘temporary’ boarding which has always been popular with our daygirls. This is an option that we haven’t been able to offer for many years as boarding has been completely full.

Benefits:

• Stay in boarding for a couple of days, weeks or even a term.
• Safe and happy choice for parents.
• Comfortable, known environment.
• Girls are well cared for.
• Regular healthy meals.
• Supervised homework.
• No stress of arranging daily transport to and from school.
• Time-saving.

Matric Boarding

Matric boarding is also an excellent option for current parents of Grade 11 girls to consider. It allows girls to experience boarding before they leave school for university.

Twins Katie and Kelly Brazier (Matric 2013) loved being boarders in Matric. They said that being boarders made things so accessible. The big plus about Matric boarding was being surrounded by all your friends and having your own room,

Benefits:

• Teaches girls to be more disciplined, independent and accountable.
• Win-win for parents and girls to get used to the idea of newly-found independence and being apart for periods of time.
• Girls can easily meet with teachers in the afternoon if necessary.
• Collaborate with fellow pupils on subjects and homework.
• Art students work together in the Art Block, encouraging collegiality.
• Girls have more time on their hands because there is no travelling to and from school.
• Opportunity to be more involved in school activities as a boarder, especially for evening events.
• The discipline of having set prep times for doing homework.