Boarding

St Joseph’s College is the largest boarding school for boys in Australia. Among the reasons families choose boarding for their sons at Joeys today are the strong family traditions and lifelong attachments that the boarding environment brings. Enhanced opportunities are also key. Living on campus at Hunters Hill is seen as providing better opportunities for boys in terms of their study and academic achievements; their cultural and sporting endeavours; and in their spiritual life and religious development.

Approximately half of Joeys’ diverse, 1100-strong student body are boarders, and half of those again hail from rural and regional areas of Australia, maintaining a connection to the bush that is integral to the spirit and traditions of Joeys following its 115 years, from 1881 to 1996, as an all-boarding school.

While country boys and those who come from places such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea are invariably full-time boarders, boarding at Joeys today includes the option of weekly boarding, which is taken up by boys whose families live in the Sydney area or otherwise close enough to travel home on weekends.

Today, the Marist Brothers have passed the hands-on operations and supervision of the dormitories to a Lay staff who are dedicated to creating a family environment, informed deeply by Marist values, for the boys under their care. Warm, down-to-earth relationships that are reminiscent of how members of a good and loving family would relate to each other are a defining feature. Boarding co-ordinators and supervisors are guided by the knowledge that parents have entrusted to Joeys not only the education of their son but the overall development, care, and welfare of his whole person.

Many boys who board are the sons and grandsons, even great-grandsons, of Old Boys, a testament to the enduring impact of the Joeys experience on those who have come here, and to the strong, multigenerational connections that contribute immeasurably to the spirit and ethos of St Joseph’s College.