Our Boarding House provides a special level of support for the 95 boarders who come to us mainly from rural Victorian and southern NSW. We understand that residential life away from home can pose unique challenges for boarders that are not experienced by our day girls. These challenges may be associated with initial homesickness; with the relocation to an unfamiliar and cosmopolitan capital city; with managing a different curriculum involving higher educational expectations and standards; with the inevitable adjustments to living in a large residential, educational community. Within the nurturing culture of Melbourne Girls Grammar, our boarders experience a quality level of care that enables them to adjust to their new context and to thrive.

Boarding staff at MGGS work closely with parents and their daughters in providing the supports required. This is why parents are asked to convey to boarding staff any concerns which may affect their daughter’s wellbeing and academic progress. It is also why staff are required to familiarise themselves with family histories. The move towards personalised education is as pertinent for boarding houses as it is for schools. MGGS makes a deep commitment to knowing every girl. Staff take realistic approaches and work with parents and students to achieve the best possible outcomes for each student’s benefit.

Our boarding staff are very aware that managing adolescent girls in a residential environment requires a subtle and complex set of skills. These skills revolve around a preparedness to listen. The MGGS Boarding House operates on the assumption that it is essential for staff to listen if they are to be trusted and respected by the girls in their care. Supervising adults are expected to acknowledge the girls’ concerns and anxieties, to be familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and to give fair and reasonable consideration to boarders’ requests.

Our approach to student well-being incorporates such elements as keeping students fit and promoting a positive adolescent social life. In particular, the School is keen that the girls enjoy informal and relaxed social situations such as ‘dinner swaps’ with the boarders from Melbourne Boys Grammar School or visits from family and friends.

It is these everyday regimes which assist each girl to achieve her personal best both in the academic domain and in co-curricular activities.

In turn, there is an expectation in the MGGS Boarding House that students will treat everybody with respect and conduct themselves in a manner that is polite, helpful and co-operative. Our boarders are provided with clear and firm guidelines about behaviour. They are expected to act responsibly and to be accountable for their actions.

Boarder’s Leave Conditions (password-protected)

A Boarder’s Day (password-protected)