Parents ask for a national starting year because it would make the calendar easier. There is not one. Most Australian independent houses take boarders from Year 7 or Year 9. A few offer earlier or later entry. Some junior programmes have paused. The only honest first sentence is: confirm the current boarding years with the school before you apply.
This directory does not guarantee a place and does not publish waitlist scores.
Why Year 7
Some families want one transition: new school, new house, new city in the same January. A Year 7 bed in a well-known city house can be scarce. Looking two years ahead is common. A sibling already in the house does not guarantee a bed.
Ask whether the junior house is on the same campus as seniors, and how mixed-year residences actually run.
Why Year 9
Some houses take a larger mid-secondary intake. Students arrive after a local middle school or after a country primary-to-Year 8 pathway. Year 9 can mean a fuller peer group in the house and a shorter run to senior years. It can also mean joining a friendship map that started in Year 7. Ask how the house inducts mid-course arrivals.
Other years
Year 10 and Year 11 entries happen — interstate postings, farm succession, a visa that landed late. Ask whether those years still have beds. Do not assume a senior vacancy because a prospectus photograph shows Year 12.
How this interacts with mode and money
A Year 7 weekly-boarder from a nearby town is a different product from a Year 9 full-boarder from a remote property. Compare weekly versus full and fees after you know the year. Scholarships often sit on an entry-year calendar. See scholarships.
Research only
Contact admissions. If this essay and the school disagree, the school wins. We do not enrol students.
Interviews and reports
Expect recent reports and often a conversation with the student. That is not a national exam. It is one campus deciding whether they can care for this child in this house. Prepare honestly. Do not treat a directory summary as a character reference.
If you are also applying for a scholarship, the calendars may not match. Academic exams can sit earlier than the general round. See scholarships.
Changing your mind about the year
Families sometimes hold a Year 7 offer and later prefer Year 9 at a different campus — or the reverse. Offers are not interchangeable across schools. Ask each office what happens if you defer. We cannot defer a place we never held.
Related
How to choose, FAQ, list. Research only.
Hold dates, not fantasies
If Year 7 is full, ask about Year 9 at the same campus and at one other campus that matches travel. Do not wait for a waitlist miracle as a plan A. Houses say no. That is information.
Research only. We do not hold places.
Applications are not a national portal
Each school runs its own round. This directory is not a common app. If you miss a date, we cannot reopen it. Put closing dates on the same calendar as exeats.
Research only.
How to treat a full Year 7 without inventing a plan B fantasy
Ask whether Year 9 at the same campus still has beds. Ask one other campus that matches travel. Do not wait for a waitlist miracle as a plan A. Houses say no. That is information, not an insult.
There is no national starting age and no national portal. Each school runs its own round. This directory is not a common app. If you miss a date, we cannot reopen it. Put closing dates on the same calendar as exeats.
Younger entry can mean a longer run in one house and a thinner peer group in a small residence. Later entry can mean a child who has already changed schools once and needs a house that knows how to receive mid-course arrivals. Neither year is automatically kinder. Confirm the years that still board.
Related: how to choose, FAQ, list.
Research only. We do not hold places. Contact the school.
Siblings are not a spare bed
A brother or sister already in the house does not guarantee a place in your entry year. Ask. Popular city Year 7 rounds fill early. Regional houses may take a larger mid-secondary intake. Neither pattern is a ranking. It is one year’s demand at one campus.
If you need a later entry because a posting or a farm roster moved, say so in the first email. Houses that know how to receive Year 10 arrivals will tell you. This directory will not hold the place while you decide.
Research only. Contact the school.