Boarding
Our focus in boarding is on giving our boarding students a caring, safe and comfortable home away from home during the school term which offers them a place to relax, study, participate in leisure activities and build strong support networks among friends and staff members.
Students from all parts of Australia and overseas come together to create a truly vibrant community that is nurturing and energetic.
Residential life for Aquinas College boarders begins before they leave home. We know it’s not always easy to start a new school when you don’t know anyone, so our Aquinas Connect program, designed for students entering Year 7 or Year 8 boarding the following year, helps build friendships and connections between students before they move into boarding. The program uses a range of initiatives to engage the boys in conversations and activities to help them get to know each other and their families.
Attending school as a boarder is, for many, their first experience of living away from home. Regardless, most students adapt very quickly and soon appreciate their new friendships. This rapid adaptation is facilitated through a strong sense of family and mutual support, fostered in every aspect of residential life.
Boarding offers special opportunities for young men to learn the values of sharing and respect, to have the time to know and appreciate other people from different backgrounds and to mature and develop close friendships with their peers.
Lifelong friendships are developed by both boys and boarding families.
Find out what's happening in the Aquinas College boarding houses.
Houses & Staff
Aquinas Connect
Activities
Houses & Staff
Four boarding houses – Brothers, Nunan, Pinder Boor and Gibney – give students an opportunity to develop a sense of belonging in their houses while still being a part of the broader school community.
Brothers House is a purpose-built facility mostly catering for Year 7 and Year 8 boarders. The smaller, more personal environment helps their transition into boarding and enables boys to acclimatise to the various programs and ways of life in boarding and the broader College.
In terms of pastoral care, the most significant person to have an influence over the daily life of a boarder is his House Director. However, there are many other staff members who play a vital role in boarding at Aquinas.
In each boarding house, there are up to ten Duty Supervisors who help the House Director with general supervision on weeknights and weekends. In each senior boarding house, two of these Duty Supervisors live on-site.
Duty Supervisors also help to take responsibility for the academic progress of our boarders – helping with tutoring or small group work wherever possible. Some are involved in working with particular year groups in the library on various nights of the week and are joined by a group of academic mentors who assist with our younger boarders.
Each of the four boarding houses has a House Mother, another significant person in a boarder’s life whilst at the College. Not only is the House Mother responsible for practicalities such as sewing and monitoring afternoon tea, but she also plays an important role in helping the boys in times of homesickness, anxiety and uncertainty.
The boarding team also consists of nurses, two school counsellors, administration and our Aquinas Connect facilitator, who is responsible for the transition into boarding of the Year 7 and 8 students. The entire team is overseen by the Head of Boarding.
Aquinas Connect
Aquinas College is proud of its longstanding history providing residential services to the sons of families living in regional and remote locations.
We’re particularly proud of our achievements in supporting the holistic needs of boarding students as they pursue their secondary education goals, while adjusting to life away from home and family.
The Aquinas Connect Program helps new Year 7 and 8 students transition from their home to boarding school. They are given sequential transition support during the six-month period prior to arriving at Aquinas College, as well as for the first six months post-transition to the College.
This strategy not only aims to promote academic readiness, it equally aims to reassure new Year 7 and 8 boarding students about the impending transition, building a sense of belonging and connectedness with their soon-to-be new learning environment.
To make the transition process easier, when Aquinas Connect students arrive on campus they receive additional support in the classroom setting as well as in the Year 7/8 Brothers House.
This includes help with organisation, finding classrooms, study time, understanding school and boarding life.
Activities
Aquinas College boarding houses participate in the annual inter-house Br Clery Cup. This is a competition showcasing the great culture among our boarding houses as well as the positive sportsmanship and good-natured rivalry among our boarding students.
The boys gain points in competitions in a number of sporting events including Cricket, Swimming, Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Dodge Ball, Tug-of-War and Soccer.
In addition, boarders take part in a Talent Quest, which is a battle of the bands and solo performance competition for both junior and senior year groups.
As the school week comes to a close on Friday afternoon, boarders look forward to the many different activities on offer each weekend as part of the extensive recreation program offered by the College.
The Recreation Officer organises leisure activities for our boarders tailored to their interests. Activities throughout the year include socials and dances with other schools, visits to Kings Park, movie nights, sporting events, river cruises and various excursions to places such as Fremantle and Adventure World, and exhibitions like the annual Sculptures by the Sea which transforms Cottesloe Beach.
Boarders also take part in the annual fundraising event Relay 4 Life, which attracts boarders from schools across WA to Aquinas College to participate. The Boarders’ Ball is also a terrific opportunity for boarders to hold their own function, dress up for the occasion and invite partners from other schools – these events are always memorable for our boarders and one of the highlights of their time at Aquinas College.
