A home away from home

Deanne Gath – Director of Boarding and International

Deanne Gath is acutely aware how hard it can be for parents when their daughters head to boarding school.

As the newly-appointed Director of Boarding at St Margaret’s College, Deanne wants parents to feel secure in the knowledge that their girls are being truly cared for.

“Every girl is different, and brings her own gifts and talents, which is just one of the delights of a boarding family! The most important thing to me is the happiness, wellbeing, safety and success of the girls. I want our boarding school to be somewhere that the girls don’t want to leave.”

“This is a home away from home that is positive, vibrant and fun.”

Having worked with teenagers for 20 years, Deanne has a unique understanding of the complexities young people face when living away from home whether domestic boarders or international students.

She has previously been International Director/ Manager across three Christchurch schools – Kaiapoi High School, Christ’s College and, most recently, SMC. Before the Canterbury earthquakes, she was Homestay Manager for a large local language school and earlier taught English in Japan for seven years, in the high school and university sectors. understands that young people have specific needs.

“We know that girls are usually more emotional than males so we need to be able to ride the emotions with them. Being able to understand and respect how they’re feeling is crucial. There are a lot of changes happening for young people and we need to ensure we have the right team to support them through those times.”

“Girls are communicators, they like to talk about things so they can resolve issues.”

Deanne receives great support in her new role from her boarding managers – Mary Quinn in Senior School, Jean Thomson in Middle School and Ange Davidson who is the day supervisor.

SMC has capacity for more than 170 boarders spread across its three houses; Julius for Years 7-10, Kilburn for Years 11-12, and the Cranmer Flats for the Year 13s. Domestic boarders are largely from the South Island while current international students are from Vietnam, Japan, China, Korea and Papua New Guinea. There is also the opportunity for temporary boarding, where day girls are able to board at key points in the year, for example in the run up to performing arts productions or sports tournaments, where they benefit from the boarding houses’ location on campus.