Figure 1.--Unlike England where many private school boys boards, in New Zealand, boys often boarded because they lived in isolated rural areas. Many New Zealand mothers, however, felt elementary-age children were to young to board. |
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Boarding is an important option available to a substantial number of New Zealand students. In most English-speaking countries, boarding is primarily an option available to relatively affluent families who has chosen private schools. The cost of school fees, particularly private boarding schools, generally restricts boarding to affluent parents. Most of parents involved choose boarding because they believe that their is an educational and social benefit. Many are influenced by the British boarding tradition and some of the most prestigious boarding schools are often those based on the academic system of the British public (private secondary) school. Others simply believe that their children can better focus on academic work with the individual attention and closer supervision. Some parents have jobs with hours and responsibilities that make normal child care difficult. In some cases, fortunately few, parents simply find it more convenient to farm out their parental responsibilities.
Initially most boarders were boys. This probably reflected the greater importance parents used to give to the education of their sons. Most of boarders are still boys, but current boarding roles are more equally divided among boys and girls. About 60 percent of the boarders in 1994 were boys.
Boarding in New Zealand differs from many other English-speaking countries. There are private boarding schools based on the British public school which are some of the best know New Zealand schools. A much larger number of New Zealand schools with boarding facilities, however, are public (state) schools. Agriculture is still an important sector of the New Zealand economy. As a result, many children live in some extremely isolated locations. The New Zealand Government still maintains small elementary schools throughout the country that provide access to most primary-age children. While the Government is gradually amalgamating these schools there are still quite a number of very small schools providing elementary children educational opportunity in their local community. The Government also maintains several small secondary schools as well as a number of area schools, schools located in rural areas providing both elementary and secondary programs. Even so, a substantial number of students live far enough from secondary schools that living at home and commuting is difficult. These students can board at the many public schools offering supervised dormitories, hostels, and pay a modest fee each term averaging about NZ$1,000.
Over 100 private and public schools in New Zealand offer boarding facilities. Most of these schools are secondary schools. The New Zealand Boarding School association estimated that 98 secondary school offered boarding programs. The boarding houses and hostels ranged in size from 5 to 403 boarders. The medium number was about 105 boarders. The substantial variation is due to several schools with very small boarding program and a few state school with housed the boarders in a large hostel in stead of smaller houses. Actually only 10 schools had hostels with more than 200 boarders.
Most boarding in New Zealand consists with programs where the boarders spend the entire week at school. About 15 percent of the boarders, however, in 1994 were "weekly" boarders where the students went home over the weekend. This is an option which is becoming increasingly popular. Boarding is most common at the more traditional boys' and girls' schools. Many of the coed schools are day schools. Some boys' schools have opened boarding houses for the 6th and 7th form girls as a way of easing the transition to coeducation.
New Zealand schools report an increasing number of foreign parents who have decided to educate their children in New Zealand. The opportunity to learn English is one important reason for choosing New Zealand. The 1997? return of Hong Kong to China has been another factor. About 850 foreign students were boarding in New Zealand in 1994. Almost all were enrolled in secondary programs, primarily in forms 5-7. Interestingly, slightly more than half of the foreign boarders were girls.
Boarding following the British public school example used to be considered an important element of private education. Attitudes toward boarding have changed in recent years. There are boarding schools for both primary and secondary level children.
Boarding during recent years has declined, especially for younger children. Parents are increasingly reluctant to board younger children. Boarding for secondary-level children has been more stable. Few elementary-age children now board at New Zealand schools. The few remaining schools that continue to offer boarding places for this age group are mostly private preparatory schools. These schools are based on the British system of boarding children beginning at about 8 years. Boarding rolls are also declining at many private and public secondary schools, but not as rapidly as for primary-level children . Available data suggests that the number of boarders at secondary schools (form 3-7) have declined from about 13,300 students in 1974 to only 10,600. The percentage of boarding students during that same period have declined from 7.3 percent of the students to only 4.6 percent.
The boarding environment varies substantially from school to school. A few private schools have adopted the system of English schools with several boarding houses around which the life of the school is organized--including a variety of athletic and other competitions. Public and some private schools generally have residential boarding hostels which play a more limited role in school life, partly because they usually represent only a small portion of the student body.
The private schools, many of which are based on British preparatory and "Public" schools, commonly operated boarding houses. Many of the private secondary schools still do, but some of the schools in the larger cities have now phased out or reduced boarding. This trend is particularly notable at preparatory (elementary) schools for younger children. Many schools report declining boarding roles and several have closed their boarding houses, even such traditional schools as Kings Preparatory in Auckland. Only a few preparatory schools still offer boarding (Hereworth, Hadley, Waihi, and a few others). Increasingly New Zealand parents, like British parents, are deciding that younger children should not as a matter of course be boarded. Many of the private secondary schools, however, continue to have important boarding rolls. Boarding at these schools is still an important part of the overall academic program, including Christs College, Dilworth, King's College, Lindisfarne, Rangi Ruru, Rathkeale, and Wanganui Collegiate. [DW: others?/girls] Many retain the house system of the British public school where the school is divided by houses and each house is composed of students from each form and thus a cross section of different ages. Some of the schools, especially the schools with programs including form 1 and 2 children, provide separate houses for the younger children.
A unique feature of New Zealand public schools is that many secondary schools have boarding houses to accommodate students that live in isolated areas. Boarding hostels are a feature at many secondary schools, including Auckland Boys Grammar, Christchurch Boys' High School, Mount Albert Grammar, Otago Boys Grammar, Sacred Heart College, Timaru Boys High, Wanganui Boys College, Whataki Boys' Grammar, and many others. The hostels generally have a different atmosphere than the boarding houses at some private schools. Several of the newly integrated schools, however, have boarding houses similar to British public schools, including (John) McGlashan College, Rathkeale, and others. [DW: add girls schools] They are supervised by full time managers rather than house masters who are part of the teaching staff. There is usually only one hostel, rather than houses around which important school competitions are organized. The boarders are divided by age, instead of the British public (private secondary) school tradition where each house had students from each form. Even so, some of the more traditional schools, such as Christ Church Boys' High are convinced that the hostel plays an important role in school life. Boarding hostels are especially common at boys' schools, but some also exist at girls' and coed schools.
Several schools have dropped boarding in recent years, but quite a number still do. There are quite a few different types of schools offering boarding in New Zealand. Here are some representative boarding schools showing the varying boarding arrangements.
