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Living at Fairholme
Built on the escarpment of the Great Dividing Range, the Fairholme College Boarding House has magnificent views of the Lockyer Valley.
This peaceful setting in the provincial city of Toowoomba, Queensland, offers a picturesque boarding experience for girls from Year 5 to Year 12. The College campus is located amongst the tree-lined streets and well-kept properties in the highly sought after East Toowoomba area. The magnificent gardens and grounds of the College itself makes the Boarding House a wonderful place to call ‘home’.
The close proximity to Brisbane, and Wellcamp Airport - with flights into Townsville, Cairns, Melbourne, Sydney and Darwin enables the College to be easily accessed by students from all over Australia and overseas.
At Fairholme College, we are renowned for providing a caring and nurturing ‘home away from home’ for our boarders.
Boarding Facilities
Our vibrant, purpose-built living spaces and facilities at the Fairholme Boarding House cater for the learning and lifestyle needs of teenage girls and provide each Boarder with a balance between personal privacy and communal living.
Boarding House Structure
The Boarding House is arranged in vertically structured floors of rooms, with girls always sharing a room with their own year level.
Our Years 5, 6 and 7 girls live on the Nancy Shaw Floors all year round with specialised staff on hand to support their transition into boarding. Each term, girls change rooms and change with whom they share. This ensures everyone has a turn in different parts of the Boarding House and enables each girl to get to know more girls in their year group, as well as girls of different age groups.
Years 8 to 12 live throughout the Boarding House in vertically-structured floors of rooms, but always sharing their room with their own year level. Each term, girls change rooms and room mates.
Living Areas
Having recently undergone a full refurbishment, the Fairholme Boarding House offers state-of-the-art facilities, modern furnishings and a vibrant atmosphere.
Boarding House bedrooms are a spacious, inviting and friendly environment, ensuring the girls feel right ‘at home’.
The configuration of bedrooms differ depending on the year level:
- Years 5 to 10 live in bedrooms of up to four girls.
- Girls in Year 11 enjoy the privacy and space of twin share bedrooms.
- Year 12 Boarders have single bedrooms.
Living areas feature:
- Comfortable single beds with hypo-allergenic mattresses
- Bedlinen and towels provided
- Own wardrobes and drawers
- Own desk / table / dressing table
- Modern basin and vanity with drawers in every dorm
- Shared bathroom amenities.
Common Rooms
Like home, all floors in the Boarding House have very large common areas central to their dorms. These areas offer the girls a comfortable space to relax and socialise together.
Common rooms feature kitchens which can be used for making tea and snacks, as well as large comfortable lounge areas with TV, DVD and music facilities.
Security
The safety and security of our Boarders at all times, is of paramount importance to the College staff who care for the girls.
Boarding parents are reassured to know that their daughter is safe and secure whilst residing at the College. The Fairholme College Boarding House is wired with an automatic security system that is activated after hours.
A security officer patrols the Boarding House surrounds to ensure the safety of the girls throughout the night and are on hand, where required, to escort Boarders to or from the Boarding House for nightly prep or early morning training/activities.
Smoke detectors are fitted in all areas within the Boarding House, and regular fire drills are held to ensure all staff and Boarders are practiced in fire safety and evacuation procedures.
To further ensure individual safety, Boarders are not permitted to leave the College grounds without the approval of the Boarding Staff on duty and corresponding procedures are in place to facilitate this process.
Health Centre
The Fairholme Health Centre ensures that medical care from qualified professionals is available on-site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
With a purpose designed five bed sickbay, girls who are unwell may remain in the Health Centre overnight under the care of the Nursing Staff on duty.
Our Nurse Manager oversees all health concerns and maintains regular updates with our Boarders’ parents.
On Monday and Friday, a doctor runs a clinic at the Health Centre for girls who are unwell and need short appointments. Nursing Staff will organise for girls to attend the clinic or if they need longer appointments, organise for them to attend the doctor’s surgery and organise taxi transportation of the girl to the appointment.
Health Centre contact details:
T 07 4688 4613
Dining Room
This room hums with the sound of happy girls at each mealtime. Our Chefs and kitchen staff take a genuine interest in the girls and cook for them with health, nutrition and enjoyment in mind.
Our Boarders enjoy a wide variety of sumptuous meals for dinner, served with market fresh vegetables and salads. Breakfast features an assortment of hot and cold dishes and lunch is a tasty hot dish with cold meats, wraps bread and salad available each day.
Plus, there’s plenty of fresh fruit and comforting baked goods on offer for sweet treats – gingerbread, banana loaf, sticky date pudding and blueberry muffins, to name a few.
Good table manners are important and are encouraged, as is punctuality at the start of mealtimes. Girls are required to attend every meal and a roll is taken.
Following the philosophy of the living areas, girls rotate tables on weeknights to ensure all Boarders have the chance to get to know each other.
House Keeping
Facility staff work daily in the Boarding House to ensure it is always kept clean, tidy and in excellent repair.
Housekeeping occurs every weekday morning and over the weekend with dorms, common areas and bathrooms vacuumed and cleaned. Towels and linen are washed regularly during the week at the boarding laundry.
Each day, when our Boarders attend the Day School, any small repairs are attended to by the College Facilities team.
Laundry
The Boarding House laundry operates five days a week (Monday to Friday). Our dedicated team of laundry staff carefully wash and iron daily all school uniforms, sporting clothes, underwear, and civvies for the girls to collect at the end of each day.
Sheets, doona covers, pillowcases and bath towels are washed regularly throughout the week and special garments will be carefully hand washed by laundry staff as required.
Washing machines and dryers are also accessible for use by Senior Boarders after school and on weekends. Several irons and ironing boards are available. Dry cleaning of garments at an outside facility is also available to Boarders through the Laundry.
College Facilities
Fairholme College has a wealth of opportunity and facilities that Boarders are welcome and encouraged to enjoy.
These facilities include:
- Multipurpose indoor gymnasium for basketball, volleyball, netball and indoor cricket
- Strength and conditioning gym with cardio equipment, pin loaded and free weights, TRX suspension training system
- Aquatic Centre – indoor, 8-lane heated 25m lap pool and 3-lane heated 10m teaching pool for learn to swim
- Grassed multi-purpose oval for athletics, hockey, touch football, rugby 7s, football and softball
- Two synthetic runways for long jump and triple jump
- Designated throws complex for athletics
- Multi-purpose flood lit courts for tennis, basketball and netball
- Music and drama practice rooms
- Dance studio.
HOLMEStore
Small essentials such as soap, toothpaste and deodorant, along with stationery and books, may be purchased from the HOLMEStore, located on campus.
It is recommended that parents deposit money in an account with the HOLMEStore so you’re your daughters may purchase items needed during the term.
HOLMEStore Opening Hours (term-time):
Monday: 12.30pm - 4pm
Tuesday: 12.30pm - 4pm
Wednesday: 12.30pm - 4pm
Thursday: 7.30am - 12.30pm
Friday: 7.30am - 12.30pm
ABN 16 917 099 053
CRICOS Provider Code: 03726D
Fairholme College is proudly a college of the
Presbyterian Church of Queensland