Our boarding school caters to high performing and gifted students from rural and remote areas. Facilities include spacious rooms, common rooms, access to sporting fields and onsite gym and a large dining and kitchen complex.
We have a Wellbeing Centre that offers health support for our students, with a registered nurse available from 7:30am to 11pm each day, with the capability of 24 hour support when needed.
The boarding school is an outstanding facility for students to expand and enhance their educational opportunities. It is home for students as they learn vital living skills. It brings city and country students together in a rural environment, only 40 minutes from the centre of Sydney.
Boarding students have direct access to the farm, the dining room, sports field, tennis courts, music, technology and library facilities. Close to the centre of Australia’s biggest metropolis, students have easy access to a broad range of opportunities.
The boarding school relies on a Wellbeing team currently coordinated by two boarding deputy principals, two head teachers welfare and a team of support staff. Each day we have a team of 5 staff working with our students along with support from Recreational Officer and Student Support Officer and Counselling team.
The boarding students share a great sense of pride in the school’s history and are committed to maintaining many of its proud traditions. These traditions include the school song and war cry, a love of learning, a belief in the importance of developing leadership skills and a commitment to the concept of the “Hurlstone family”. Student and staff leaders have a strong commitment to maintaining Hurlstone’s sense of history and a sense of future; these combine as the sources of pride and affection for students past and present.
Student leadership training is provided and the student role in the operation of the boarding school is significant. The student body is represented by the elected Boarder Council that works closely with the school executive in developing the best environment for our residents. Recreation activities are organised for boarders and academic tutors support boarding school students with their studies.
Our boarding school community enjoys a strong link between home and school and communication between families and school is maintained with the use of Sentral, REACH and Schoolbytes applications. We hold meetings twice a term (in weeks 3 & 8) between boarding executive staff and all families using our dedicated MS Teams platform. Student leaders provide student voice in the meetings reporting on activities and student morale. The meeting explores policy and processes and issues to strengthen the effectiveness of our boarding school in catering for stduent needs.
Our student academic results are exceptional. Enrolment into the boarding school is by a competitive examination. The High Performing Students Unit accepts applications for Year 7 with an examination for incoming students when in Year 5. The High Perfoming Student Unit has developed a process that enables early entry offers for Year 7 boarding students, applying for enrolment in Agricultural, residential high schools. Details of that process are available here. Entry examinations for all other years are held in August and enquiries can be made through the school office. For more information, access the enrolment page here.
For more information about boarding at Hurlstone Agricultural High school, download our Boarding School Handbook here.