Boarding

St Joseph's College is unique among Australian schools because of its strong commitment to boarding education.

With around 70 per cent of Joeys students enrolled as boarders (either weekly or full), the college is one of the largest boarding schools in the Southern Hemisphere. The large number of boarding students is complemented by day students, who share fully in the life of the college while continuing to live at home. There is no separation between boarding students and day students – the college community is united and works together as one.

There are two different boarding options for students:

Weekly boarding

Weekly boarding students leave St Joseph's to the care of their parents after they have completed their full sporting commitment on Saturday. They return to the college Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Full boarding

Each Year 12 boarder has his own individual study-bedroom, with access to shared relaxation and recreation areas. Borders in Years 10 and 11 live in purpose-built residential blocks. Junior boarders (Years7-9) live in the main building, whose traditional dormitories have recently been refurbished and modernised.

Because a significant number of students live at the college full-time, and others are present well beyond the limits of a normal school day, St Joseph's is a second home for all its students in a very real way. A wide variety of young men, individually different and from a range of diverse backgrounds and geographic locations, learn to live, pray, work and play together.

Lifelong friendships, important lessons in living and sharing, and qualities such as loyalty, trust and strength in adversity are especially nourished in this environment. So too are the special relationships between the young men and the Brothers, teachers and carers who look after them.

Boarding experience for day boys - three week boarding trial

It is very common for day boys and their families to express interest in finding out if a boarding education at St Joseph's is a suitable option for them. To help answer this question, St Joseph's offers a three week trial boarding program for day boys.

Download the trial boarding brochure here.

If you would like your son to participate in the boarding experience please email the Head of Boarding, John Reading at jreading@joeys.org

In your email please indicate three different three-week periods for the trial to take place (as your first preference may not always be available). Please also indicate the boarding option you would like your son to trial (e.g. full boarding, weekly boarding returning Sunday or weekly boarding returning Monday morning).

For a boarding trial to be approved, college boarding staff must be satisfied that the individial student has the capacity to settle well into boarding and will potentially benefit from the experience. The college will then decide on a suitable three-week period for the boarding trial to take place. This will be dependent on space being available in the relevent section of the college.

Meals at Joeys

All menus for student meals at St Joseph's College are assessed by Food and Nutrition Australia (FNA) to ensure they provide the recommended serves of the core food groups as defined in The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (Smith & Kellett, 1998).

The term menu is the primary source of nutrition for boarders at the college. It must therefore meet the dietary requirements of 12-18 year-old men, and provide adequate energy and nutrients to encourage growth and development, promote concentration and learning, and fuel participation in daily physical activity and competitive sport without promoting unhealthy weight gain.

Students with special dietary needs can be catered for at the college.

View the college's Term 4 menu:

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