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Welcome to Boarding
The Fairholme Boarding House is not just a place to stay — it's a home away from home.
For over 100 years, Boarders have played a valued and significant role in the life of Fairholme College.
We are renowned for providing a caring and nurturing home for our Boarders and are dedicated to fostering a sense of community, responsibility and personal growth within these walls.
At Fairholme, we pride ourselves on thinking as a Boarding School. As one of the largest Boarding Schools in Australia, we make it our mission to ensure that we are also one of the happiest for our girls.
With 220 girls and staff living on campus, Boarders make up the 'fabric' of Fairholme College, constituting over a third of the student body of the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools.
It is our highest aim to provide a comfortable and relaxing experience for your daughter, underpinned by a safe, friendly and stimulating environment.
Visit our Boarding House
We warmly invite prospective families to take a guided tour of the Fairholme College Boarding House.
Book a guided tour online or contact our Head of Enrolments, Mrs Tina Hammond.
T 07 4688 4635
E
Tina.Hammond@fairholme.qld.edu.au
Open the door to a world of possibilities
We know that for most of our Fairholme Boarder parents, the choice to send your daughter to a Boarding School is necessitated by your rural or remote location or seeking out opportunities for a rich and diverse education, not otherwise accessible.
Even as a necessity, this can be a difficult decision. However, once made, this decision will open the door to an exciting, new world full of possibilities.
We believe that the best education is a well-rounded one. At Fairholme, your daughter will be provided with endless opportunities to participate in academic, cultural, sporting and service pursuits, and in the Boarding House, acquire the skills of negotiation, co-operation and sharing, all which contribute to developing the whole person.
Be part of a vibrant community
As a Boarder, your daughter will become part of a large, vibrant community of girls who come to Fairholme to learn, to grow and to develop friendships for life.
Our Boarding staff have a wealth of experience in working with girls of this age, and whilst they cannot be mum or dad, they are passionately interested in each girl and want to see them achieve their very best in all that they do.
We know that we will never be able to replace her real home, but we do seek to work with you in the provision of a safe, structured environment with clear expectations and guidelines for her growth and learning.
Like you, we have faith in your daughter’s future and we look forward to sharing her Fairholme journey with you.
Boarding Handbook 2023
Experience Boarding at Fairholme
At the end of Term 3 each year, our Orientation Weekend provides the opportunity for prospective students and their parents to share a residential weekend with us.
Your daughter will experience boarding life firsthand, and get to know other girls who will start the year with them.
It’s also a chance for Boarding parents to meet other parents, get to know our Boarding House staff and ask questions to help you feel more at ease.
For more information, please contact our Head of Enrolments:
Mrs Tina Hammond
T 07 4688 4635
Boarding News
For Year 7 Boarder, Arabella Muenster, life at Fairholme College looks a little different to home in the middle of Australia. Located an hour’s drive north of Alice Springs is Yambah Station, home to the Muenster Family and almost 5,000 head of Shorthorn cattle. Covering 2,310 square kilometres of vast open plains right in the centre of Australia, the property is one of the southernmost homesteads in the Northern Territory. A three-hour flight plus 2.5 hours of driving is quite the trip to school, but for Arabella its now the new norm as a Boarding student. Having previously completed her schooling via Distance Education, Arabella was eager to follow in her older brother’s footsteps and head off to boarding school. ‘I was a little nervous but more excited to come to Fairholme.’ ‘I was lucky that I already knew a few girls, some that I had met at orientation before starting.’ Arabella says learning by Distance Education was very quiet compared to now sharing a holme with more than 220 girls. Although she enjoys life on the land with her family, Arabella is loving the enormous variety of opportunities that Fairholme offers and the chance to make new friends. ‘I do miss my family but so far I’ve been lucky not to be too homesick.’ ‘It’s much easier being close to school and I like having my friends nearby.’ ‘I’ve joined the Fairholme Equestrian team. It’s really fun and I always look forward to spending time with my horse.’ Just like so many of our Boarding girls, Arabella says that having her horse in Toowoomba helps her feel like she’s got a little piece of home with her. While we’re sure Arabella is looking forward to being reunited with her family on the holidays, for now she’s making the most of her new life in tartan.
When Bella Horsburgh embarked on her journey at Fairholme College in Year 10, she wasted no time making her mark. Armed with a Certificate II and III in Health Services, along with dual University subjects in Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Research Skills in Health Science, Bella’s career path was crystal clear. Having secured an early offer to pursue Medical Radiation Science with a specialisation in Diagnostic Radiography at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Bella expressed a sense of relief in knowing her destination. ‘Knowing where I will be going next year is a big weight off my shoulders, especially before the pressures of external exams set in,’ Bella said. As a Fairholme Boarder who grew up in rural NSW and Dalby, Bella has always harboured a passion for rural health. Her firsthand experiences revealed the stark reality that those in remote areas lack easy access to health services available in major cities. ‘It’s so disheartening when patients are required to travel for hours to access essential care, which then sometimes results in severe illnesses.’ Looking ahead, Bella envisions “heading west” after completing her four-year course, driven by a profound desire to make a positive impact… but not before adding to her list of qualifications. ‘I am hoping to complete my two years’ in Post Graduate Sonography, so I’m even more skilled.’ While Bella may have a clear roadmap for the next few years, leaving Fairholme is a bittersweet prospect for her. ‘It’s so very exciting to be finishing, and looking towards the future, but I will miss Boarding deeply. ‘The connections I have made will undoubtedly endure beyond graduation.’
My name is Caitlyn Bowling, and I started my journey back in 2021 in Year 10. I come from a small rural town called Wandoan, on a cattle property 50km out of town. From a school of about 70 students and being the only girl in a class with 7 other grade 9 and 10 boys, adjusting to the fact that I would be a part of a family with 220 sisters was – let’s say the least – a little daunting. I have a younger sister and brother and I thought that was a handful enough, let alone living with 220 others. My parents, having had their heads stuck in the sand of where to send me for so long, decided that we should probably find somewhere for me to go one year out. Fairholme was the first school we looked at, and in an instant, I knew this is where I wanted to go. I made my decision that day after our tour, not even considering any other schools. It was during my orientation that I had met my best friend, Amelia. Her constant smile and openness to chat to when I didn’t know anybody made coming here so much easier. Now lifelong best friends, I realise how important those little interactions are. While boarding was very foreign to me, I was ready for something different. My first day of Fairholme wasn’t quite as I planned it; falling down the stairs and dropping my morning tea wasn't quite what I had in mind… thinking how could this get any worse? I was in a different school, eating different food at morning tea and was just trying to get through my first day, alive… but I survived. You may be known as the girl who fell down the stairs, but that doesn’t matter! When you are accepted, loved, and supported like you are at Fairholme, you learn that little things like this only help shape you into who you become. For me, this journey has now led me to the appreciative role of Boarder Prefect and the girl who only falls down the stairs maybe once or twice a term. I understand that boarding is hard for both parents and their daughters. It as much as your first day as it is theirs. While I may have managed to keep it all together, my mum, however, not so much. But YOUR GIRLS too, will survive this incredible journey and want to do it all over again as I do now, even if they fall down the stairs on their first day.
From the first day, marked by a flurry of photos captured by Amelia Webster’s mother, Lisa, to the warm welcome extended by her ‘Big Sister’, Emma Scanlon, the initial impression of Fairholme from the Kingaroy Boarder was nothing short of amazing. ‘I remember my mum took so many photos on the first day; before we left home, when we arrived in the Boarding House car park, one by myself in my room, and one with my first roommates (Bridget Rea and Jo Cox),’ Amelia recounted. The Boarding House became a second home for Amelia, and within her first few day’s, bonds were formed and memories made. ‘I will miss chatting to everyone in the hallways, particularly in the Boarding House,’ she said, highlighting the strong sense of camaraderie that permeates our Holme. The tight-knit Boarding community provided opportunities for friendships that might not have blossomed otherwise, and conversations over dinner revealed a tapestry of backgrounds, enriching her perspective through the diversity of her peers. ‘My highlights as a Boarder have been getting to know people I never would have if our rooms weren't a few doors away from each other, and also learning all sorts of things from everyone's different backgrounds just by talking at dinner.’
Day girl, Hannah Pocknee, got a taste of the rural life when she visited Boarder, Kadence Wilson, at her home near Julia Creek... Here she writes about her adventures in the country
In recent years we’ve visited families in Urandangi, Gregory Springs, Hughenden, Mt Isa, Katherine, Darwin, Moree, Narrabri, Roma, Dalby, Tenterfield, North Star, Goondiwindi, Kowanyama, St George, Bollon, Cherbourg, Cunnamulla, Longreach, Winton, Mungindi, Miles, Boomi, Thallon, Taroom, Charleville, Blackall, Warialda, Munduberra, Gayndah, Condamine and more … Why do Fairholme staff – boarding, academic and leadership, traverse country roads each year, visiting incoming students, their families, and their schools? Because data would tell us that forming relationships prior to school entry, reduces the impact of homesickness. In 2014 Fairholme undertook a two-year research project through Independent Schools Queensland to understand the structures that best support the transition of boarders from their home to Fairholme. Through this, we came to focus on the transition from home to boarding and to consider this widely across all entry points of the College. We have not stopped our ponderings as a result, and the transition programs that operate across the whole College are under regular review and refinement. One of the main findings from the Boarder Transition research project was that visits to our incoming boarders’ homes or hometowns in the year prior entry to school, had a powerful and significantly positive impact on our students’ ability to start learning with greater immediacy. It is a self-evident truth that a student who is settled at home or in boarding is better placed to approach learning positively and effectively. Additionally, understanding our student’s background in a real sense, is the first step in establishing a relationship of trust. Whilst one building block does not create a tower, we believe it does provide the firmest of footings. It nudges us to an understanding of the contrast between the home and the school environment, it introduces us to the significance of pets, the vastness of properties, and the importance of family. It is a lesson in empathy and awareness. Furthermore, it reminds us all, each time, of distance and not just in a literal sense. After all, we do have to persevere when travelling distance. As staff we are enlightened and humbled each time as we calculate the kilometres many of our Boarder families undertake to enable a Fairholme education. We have a glimpse of long, tedious straight roads, often pitted with potholes. So too, we encounter kangaroos, bush pigs, and the occasional guileless emus, and road trains that appear endless and impossible to overtake, safely. Travelling west late in the afternoon means blinding sunlight and it also means vast open plains, mountains that appear blue on the horizon, sorghum crops standing to attention, the fluff of cotton crops caught in road grass and cattle that graze, oblivious to the traffic that passes them. We all have to travel distance to get anywhere. We have to travel as staff, to gain insight. Enduring the potholes, persisting through tedious kilometres, and negotiating an overtake of too many road trains is a means through which we are actually forging connections. For each and every country visit to our new families, we are building relationships and nurturing potential in our incoming students. That’s why we travel north, south, and west each year – thousands and thousands and thousands of kilometres. Because we believe, and data confirms, that it makes a difference. These visits allow our new boarders, leaving home for the first time, to settle faster and to feel a greater sense of belonging. For their parents, these visits allow the first layer of the fundamental platform of trust to be established. Without it, the journey ahead will be less fruitful. Travelling distance, is but a small gesture of commitment to our families, but an important reminder that, in Australian singers/songwriters Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s prophetic words – ‘from little things, big things grow.’ Dr Linda Evans Principal (and avid western traveller)
Our Boarding House is more than just a place where students reside. It’s a community, a family away from home, for 215 students who hail from all areas over the country. Acting Deputy Head of Boarding, Mrs Kylie Wallis, had a brilliant idea to showcase the diversity of the land where each of our boarders come from. A giant jar was filled with a collection of dirt from the different regions, which is now on display in the Boarding House. The dirt has literally come from far and wide around Australia – with the furthest sample being sourced over 3000km away in Katherine, NT. The visual representation became more than just a jar filled with earth. To the boarders, it represented a tangible connection to their homes. Mrs Wallis says they realised that their individual identities were intrinsically linked to the land they came from, and the display of dirt became a celebration of their diverse heritage. ‘They would often gather around the jar, sharing stories and reminiscing about their hometowns, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for one another. Some even started conversations about their own cultural backgrounds, leading to greater appreciation for Australia’s diverse geography and the importance of embracing one’s roots.’ The dirt will remain on display in the Boarding House and there are now plans to fill another jar.
Kowanyama means ‘place of many waters’ in the Yir Yoront language. In the Barumggam language, Toowoomba means ‘the swamp’. Two places 2100km apart, but both mean home to five of our Boarders. A group of girls gathers in Daisy Culpin Courtyard getting ready for dinner in the Dining Hall. On the menu tonight is Butter Chicken, a favourite amongst the Boarders. ‘I love Joe’s Butter Chicken!’ says Janae Mango. Janae, along with Tilayla and Tisharni, Josiah and Kayla and Yas Daniel- Stafford, hail from Kowanyama – 28 hours and 2100km away. Distance means there are no visits home during the school term. And, whilst the girls each have their own stories and backgrounds, they are united in the common experience of being away from their families. They have learned to navigate the challenges of school life and homesickness, and in doing so have forged new friendships and discovered their own strengths. They have come to realise that this far-off place – the Fairholme Boarding House – has become their home away from home, a place where they belong. As the term is drawing to a close, the girls are getting excited about going home. Kayla can’t wait to sleep in her own bed, Yas is looking forward to waking up whenever she wants, Tisharni is excited to see her family and pets, while Janae and Tiayla are both planning on fishing and camping. ‘I can’t wait to eat the salty plums from home, seeing my family, just being in the bush, being able to go camping and fishing. Just all the normal stuff from home,’ Tilayla says. Acting Deputy Head of Boarding, Mrs Kylie Wallis, said, ‘like many of our boarders, the girls fom Kowanyama struggled with being away from home, missing the familiarity of their community and the comfort of being surrounded by family and friends. However, over time, the girls began to form close bonds with their fellow students and the staff at the Boarding House, creating a sense of community and belonging that helped to ease their homesickness.’ Yas and Kayla shared their experiences of adjusting to Boarding School. Yas initially found missing her family and her community difficult. However, over time, she began to form great friendships, participating in activities like sport and art that helped her feel more connected to her new environment. ‘I still miss home,’ Yas says, ‘but I also love my friends here and all the things we do together. Plus, my sister is here, so when I get really homesick, I go and hang out with her.’ Similarly, Kayla missed the landscape of her community. ‘I miss seeing the stars at night and going to the river near our community,’ she says. ‘But now I’ve made friends here, and my sister is here, so when I feel like I am missing my home, I go and see her or I go for a walk outside with my friends.’ As the term comes to an end, they are excited to return home, but also grateful for the experiences and if homesickness kicks in, the girls find busying themselves in the plethora of activities in the Boarding House helps. Every weekend, there are craft afternoons, excursions, sporting opportunities and a host of other activities the girls can participate in. The Fairholme Boarding House has become a place where these girls feel a sense of belonging, and they have learned to overcome homesickness by forming strong bonds with their fellow students and staff. From Fairholme to their Kowanyama home, one thing is for sure – the girls are looking forward to seeing their family and friends these Easter holidays.
Experience Fairholme
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Fairholme College is proudly a college of the
Presbyterian Church of Queensland