The other two are Yanco Agricultural High School in Leeton on the Riverina,which is boarding only,and Hurlstone Agricultural High School in western Sydney,which offers boarding for about 300 students. Both are co-educational and academically selective.
Max’s mother,Sarah-Jane Bonner,said there was"absolutely"a need for more public boarding schools,especially for families more isolated than her own.
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"It'd be great to see NSW education funding going in that direction,"Ms Bonner said."I've got a lot of faith in the public education system and Farrer has made me have even more faith in it."
The Bonners live on a 4000-acre property 13 kilometres from a tiny town called Breeza. The local high school is in Gunnedah,which would involve hours on a bus each day. Max's father Paul made a similar trip from the family farm to the local high school as a teenager and dropped out in year 10.
Max is happy to board."It saves getting up early in the morning and you've got the sport there so you don't have to travel from home on the weekend,"he said."You've got all your teachers at school so if you've got a problem with one of your assignments,you know there's going to be someone ... to help you."
But as a boys school,Farrer is not an option for Max's two younger sisters and as a selective school,it's not guaranteed for his younger brother. The Bonners plan to send their daughters to Calrossy,an Anglican girls school in Tamworth,as day students until they can afford to pay for boarding.
Max qualifies for boarding allowance under the federal government's Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme - this covers $8000 of the $12,000 cost to board at Farrer.
Most private boarding schools cost significantly more - from nearly $20,000 at Calrossy to more than $33,000 at Sydney boys school Cranbrook - with tuition fees on top. Many schools are offering fee relief for those affected by drought.
Government help for remote education
In June 2019 the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme had 2555 recipients in NSW. Of those:
- 1291 received boarding allowance
- 1138 received distance education allowance
- 126 recived second home allowance
Source:Department of Social Security
There used to be a system of boarding hostels for secondary students in regional centres but most closed down decades ago. The model still operates in the Indigenous sector - Aboriginal Hostels Limited has two in NSW,in Sydney and Newcastle.
Adrian Piccoli,a former education minister who now runs the Gonski Institute at the University of NSW,said he doubted the government would want to expand public boarding schools and he did not see"any educational rationale".
Ms Mitchell said the state boarding schools were part of the NSW government's rural and remote education strategy but did not answer questions about whether they should expanded. A Department of Education spokesperson said there were no changes planned.
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In 2017 the royal commission on child sexual abuse identified boarding schools as posing heightened risk. But Ms Butler from the ICPA said modern boarding schools were held to high standards and the Department of Education had a good track record.
"We've already got government boarding schools and they’re running them quite well,"Ms Butler said."Where there's an identified need ... I can't see any reason why they wouldn't be able to be implemented."