Welcome (back) to our Boarding Program!

With excitement for the new school year, our Boarding Program embarked on another thrilling year. This year, we have 32 boarding students representing 18 nationalities and 7 boarding parents, who will work closely with the students to ensure their safe and fulfilling life.

The boarding parents organize an orientation for the new and returning boarding students the weekend before the new school year starts, so that everybody can settle in and start their boarding life at ease. 

This year's orientation started with an icebreaker activity, where the students were introduced to their new roommates and worked in pairs. Kaoru White, our Head of Residential Life, happily shared a highlight from the activity, saying ‘it was nice to see the students having fun asking and answering ‘very hard’ questions about themselves, such as ‘how many countries have I lived in?’ and ‘what is my horse’s name?’’

Proceeding the icebreaker was a meeting to discuss house rules and expectations to make sure that everybody is responsible to contribute for a safe and respectful community. The prefects from each House, who were selected by their peers, were introduced during the meeting, too. Finally, in the evening, they had a BBQ dinner and enjoyed catching up or getting to know their new peers. 

Over the summer, we purposefully renovated one of the three boarding houses (the other two were renovated last summer.) The new house features some aspects based on students’ feedback from previous years. 

• Each bedroom, shared between two students, is equipped with a shelf partition so that students can feel like they have their own space even in a shared room.

• The two individual study booths within the House allow students to focus on their work.

• The rooms have moveable rail lighting that they can configure to suit their needs.

Same as the existing boarding houses, it is equipped with a common room including a small kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, and shower room. 

Our boarding houses are a ‘Home Away from Home’, where the students gain independence, and develop essential skills for life, while connecting with their peers as life-long friends. We cannot wait to see how the students grow and spend a wonderful time at Canadian Academy and in Kobe this year!