A prospectus sells ovals and chapels. A boarding handbook tells you who is on duty, which nights count, what you may pack, and what happens when a child is ill on a Sunday. Read the handbook. If the school will not send one until after an application, ask what they can send now. A verbal tour is not a policy.
This is research only. Handbooks change. Confirm you have this year’s edition. We do not enrol students.
Start with nights and leave
Which nights are included in weekly versus full board? How do exeats work? Who can host a student, and how late can that be arranged? A last-minute city host is not always allowed and is not a welfare arrangement for an overseas student.
Duty and medical
Who sleeps in the house? How is after-hours medical care handled? What is the threshold for calling a parent? These paragraphs are more important than the scholarship flyer in the same envelope.
Devices, money and prohibited items
Phone rules after lights-out vary. Ask how they are enforced. Note what is banned — appliances, cars, medications not lodged with staff. Packing lists in the handbook beat generic internet lists. See the FAQ packing answer, then obey the campus document.
Fees are a different PDF
The handbook is not a fee schedule. Request both. How fees work explains the split. Do not treat a sentence about “what is included in boarding” as a year-level price.
Overseas families
If the student is on a student visa, the handbook sits beside a CRICOS course, a welfare letter and an international schedule. See international students. This essay is not visa advice.
Research only
If the handbook and this site disagree, the handbook wins. Contact the school. Listings are not endorsements.
Print it and mark the gaps
Highlight every sentence that assumes a local parent on Friday. Highlight every medical and device rule. Write the questions those highlights create, and send them before you pay an application fee. A handbook that never mentions Saturday duty is incomplete — ask for the missing page.
Version control
Ask for the year on the cover. A 2022 PDF in a 2026 process is a souvenir. Houses change phone rules and year levels. Nostalgia is not a policy.
Related
What to ask on a tour, weekly versus full, FAQ. Research only.
Bring it to the tour
Mark the pages you do not understand and ask them in the house, not in the chapel. If the answers contradict the PDF, ask which document wins. Get the answer in writing if it changes nights or money.
Research only. The current edition wins.
If they send a prospectus instead
Ask again for the handbook. A prospectus is a brochure. The duty and leave rules are in the other document. Politely persist. Then tour with the pages marked.
Research only.
Pages worth marking before the tour
Leave and exeat rules. Phone and device policy. Medical after-hours care. Who is on duty after lights-out. What happens if a parent cannot collect on Friday. What is prohibited in the house. How weekend sport leave works. Those pages decide the childhood week. The chapel photograph does not.
If the school sends a prospectus instead, ask again for the handbook. A prospectus is a brochure. Duty and leave live in the other document. Politely persist. Then tour with the pages marked. If answers contradict the PDF, ask which document wins and get money or nights in writing.
Handbooks change. Last year’s edition is orientation, not this year’s rule. Ask for the current file dated this cycle.
Related: what to ask on a tour, weekly versus full, FAQ, fees.
Research only. The current edition wins. Contact the school.
Medical and phone pages are not fine print
After-hours care, medication storage, and device rules after lights-out decide whether a house fits a particular child. Parents skip those pages because the chapel photograph is easier. Mark them. Ask them on the tour. If the verbal answer is softer than the PDF, believe the PDF until you have the change in writing.
Last year’s handbook is orientation. This year’s file is the rule. Ask for the dated edition.
Research only. Contact the school.
Leave rules decide the Friday
If weekly board is the product, the Friday collection paragraph is the handbook. If full board is the product, the Saturday programme paragraph is the handbook. Mark the one that matches the nights you will buy. Ask it on the tour. Believe the dated PDF until a change is written down.
Research only. Contact the school.