The popular perception of boarding schools often comes from the era of Victorian England - big dormitories of boys, a culture of rigid rules, terrible food, and bullying. But when it comes to modern boarding at Dilworth, this perception couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I want parents to know what it’s like now,” says Gareth Hore, Dilworth’s Director of Boarding, “because it’s so different from what boarding used to be. We’ve worked incredibly hard at Dilworth to absolutely transform the experience. Boarding in 2025 has become a place of safety, security, and belonging for students. We’ve created a home away from home where they genuinely enjoy being.”
At Dilworth’s Senior Campus, students are housed in either a two-person dorm or a private room. Across at the Junior Campus, where students are younger and often need more connection, each room accommodates six students. The boarding houses have undergone extensive work and been purpose-fitted to ensure high levels of comfort, including the ongoing roll-out of new king-size single beds to ensure a good night’s sleep.
“They’re very, very comfortable,” Gareth says. “We’ve also invested a lot of time and money into providing fantastic facilities for students to enjoy. All the houses have their own common areas with pool tables, PlayStations, table tennis tables, all the things normal teenagers would be doing in their downtime.” Students on the senior campus also have access to all the school’s recreation facilities, like the gym, weights room, football and rugby fields, basketball courts, swimming pool, and a host of other amenities. “Those facilities are world-class, which is why we often have international sports teams here”, Gareth says. “We had the South African rugby team training at Dilworth in 2024 when they played the All Blacks and before Christmas, Dilworth hosted the Global Youth 7’s Tournament”.
The school also offers a lot of flexibility in its boarding programme. “The majority of our students are from Auckland, so if they want to go home for a night and come back the next day, they can,” Gareth says. “Gone are the days of thinking ‘They’re just homesick, they need to toughen up.’ That thinking is absolutely antiquated, and it’s definitely not how we do it here at Dilworth now. The flexibility we provide in managing boarding is a major plus for both the students and their families. It allows them to be present if their family needs them close for any reason. Working in partnership with families for the best outcome is essential.”
Dilworth’s boarding programme has a number of options to meet student and family needs, ranging from full-term stays to weekly boarding with home visits during the week. The Junior Campus also offers day schooling for Years Seven and Eight, and a new day school option for Year Nine will also kick off in 2026.
A lot of planning is put into orienting new students when they first arrive. “We have a six-week plan,” Gareth says, “nothing is left to chance. We do everything we can to make our young men feel welcome, to help them understand what this new home looks like, what all the routines are. We treat it incredibly seriously, for both our boarding and day students, because we understand how important it is that they have a great experience right at the start. For example, for Year Nine induction, we have a family barbecue on the first evening and have a shortened week to assist with the transition from home to a new environment. We buddy up new students with boys who have more experience, which is a very carefully considered process that works well.”
Key staff are also introduced to all the new students during this initial phase. Gareth: “The Headmaster meets with them first, then our Safeguarding staff, our Counselling team, myself as Director of Boarding, Craig from the kitchen, and then the school Reverend.” Staffing levels for boarding are also high and all staff are rigorously vetted and subject to extensive references and checks. The expectation and practice is that staff will be active and engaged while on duty.
“We are also in the process of developing a Boarding Curriculum,” Gareth says. “The concept is to add to the experience of students after school time and equip them with life skills. For example, independence might involve a Year Seven student making his bed, and by the time he’s in Year Twelve, he’s learning five recipes he can confidently bring to life, while also knowing how to change a car tyre and how a car works.”
Social life for boarding students who are on term stay or those who are staying over the weekend is rich and varied, Gareth says. “It can’t all be work, right? Students are incredibly busy across any normal week. So over a weekend, when we might have between 25 and 40 boys staying, we’re doing stuff like going to a Breakers game, seeing the Blues, visiting the trampoline park or Ollie’s Ice Cream Parlour in Royal Oak. We try to keep it simple but entertaining.” The older students can also access permission-based leave to visit Newmarket, strictly managed for safety reasons.
Safety is of paramount importance right across the school, and boarding is no exception. Dilworth has extensive systems, processes, and procedures to keep track of students, their safety, and welfare at all times, including REACH. “REACH is a total student management system for boarding. It handles much more than just telling us which student is where and when they’re due back - we use it to do live roll calls four times a day - and it gives us visibility into student illness and medication requirements, what to administer and when, so there can’t be any mistakes.”
Digital technology and the internet are also a huge focus of safety at Dilworth. “We make sure that our young men have the right skills when it comes to managing their online presence, and the material that’s coming at them all the time. We want them to make good, safe decisions,” Gareth says. “Part of our job is to support them to do that. Providing boundaries around device use helps set acceptable limits and allows students to engage in building relationships with others, while also getting the sleep that active young men need.”
As part of its safeguarding suite, the school also uses Stymie, a web-based tool that gives students a voice to ensure any issues they are experiencing or observing can be shared and dealt with.
Dilworth is also the only school in New Zealand with Child Wise accreditation. “That’s been a huge piece of work over a number of years,” Gareth says. “We now have one of the best safety structures in the country, but we’re continually striving to improve. If parents have any questions, I’m always keen to speak with them. They can ask me anything. My door is always open.”