Canberra Grammar School

sense, trying to remove students from that sort of environment,” he adds. Similarly, the school’s boarding has attracted students from the southern isles, students who have traditionally gone north to Sydney for school. The school is even home to military kids from within Canberra, but whose fami- ly may be posted far away. “Many go on postings in three year cycles, and they want their children to stay in Canberra, and finish their edu- cation at a quality school.” To take that diversity a step further, Downey did confirm that the school becoming fully coeducational was a big strategic plan for the school. “Last year, the school extended the range of year groups that girls could join in the junior school, and this year [2017] we’ve had girls joining us in year seven and year 11, so we’ve be- gun the transition into coeducation. We don’t have the boarding facilities yet and we’re still in the planning stag- es, but we intend to have girls board- ing as well.” Going viral Boarding is currently at its full ca- pacity, and Downey attributes inter- est in the School’s boarding facilities to a number of factors; “The school, a number of years ago did not have the same strength when it came to board- ing numbers. In the last three to four years we’ve really increased that, now we have a waiting list for boarding which is a terrific position to be in.”