Typically about 75% of Year 8 students stay at the College until 8:00pm on any given Monday – Thursday night. Friday nights there tend to be less. Some boys stay late 5 nights per weeks, others never stay late, most stay at least a few nights per week. There is no good or bad program, it depends on each student and their family as to what program works best for them.
There are definitely advantages in staying late for the boys:
- a structured evening program consisting of supervised study
- a music practice session on their chosen instrument in the music centre
- access to the free support tutors who can assist with homework, assessments and general organisation and planning
- access to help from the boarding staff (most of whom are teachers)
- dinner together as a group (most boys see this as a benefit, especially on chicken schnitzel night!)
- the social benefits of spending more time with different boys outside their classes and sport teams
- boys may also wish to stay after 8:00pm and share free time/activities with the boarders, there are already number of day students who do this on a regular basis.
I encourage you to talk to your son and agree with him what nights he will stay in the following week, and complete the portal accordingly. The boys benefit from a regular routine. We are also trying very hard to instil the attitude that evening study is more than just completing the homework set in class that day. In addition to completing homework, the boys should be started on assessments ahead of time, making study notes and revising, getting their diary and notes organised, doing extra work on areas they struggle on using the variety of resources available to them (eg Maths Online and Education Perfect) and getting assistance from staff and other boys.
For the reasons above, please avoid changing times because your son tells you that he has finished all his homework (or similar). However I do understand that sometimes there are family circumstances where the boys need to change their departure times, so if you need to change:
Boys can always stay LATER than their nominated departure time – this is not problem, there is no need for you to do anything, the boys just stay.
Boys leaving EARLIER than their nominated departure time:
- Before 9:00pm Sunday night of the week before (preferred): log onto http://ilearn.joeys.org and edit the departure times (instructions here)
- After 9:00pm Sunday night of the week before: enter a “Day student time change” leave in Boardingware before 4:30pm of the day or earlier if possible.
- Please avoid emailing or calling on the phone unless there is no other option.