THE NEXT STEP: ISSUE 1 - a boarding school guide for every family.

Letters from Home – Podcast

Letters from Home is our podcast sharing the real voices and lived experiences of boarding. Through honest conversations with parents, students and experts, we explore the challenges, the triumphs and the everyday realities of life beyond the places we call home. For families, it offers reassurance, strategies and connection. For schools, it’s a window into the hopes and concerns of rural communities, helping strengthen understanding and relationships. Each episode is a letter from the bush to the boarding world.

The cost of a school day: Haylie Hill on living apart to educate her children

Haylie Hill shares the challenges of making education affordable for her family, from living apart and leaving her community to the opportunities that made it worthwhile, and how financial support could have kept them together in Camooweal.
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Too Much to Live For: Willa Arantz on Motherhood, Boarding and Brain Cancer

When her son started boarding school, Willa Arantz faced brain cancer, her father’s death and losing the family home. With warmth, humour and fierce determination, she shares her treatment journey, the support that helped her family and healing through art.
Listen

Eight Children, One Very Long Road

Raising eight children on a remote sheep station, Sarah Harris juggles boarding school, School of the Air, toddlers and station life. She reflects on the challenges of motherhood, the importance of sport and watching her daughters thrive away from home.
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She loved boarding school. Sending her own kids is another story.

Laura Wilson loved boarding school, but sending her own children is more emotional. Mum of six, nurse and Quilpie transport business partner, she joins Amanda for a warm, funny chat about country childhoods, family life and opportunities for our kids.
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Keep Knocking: Jackson Dowling and the Courage to Do Hard Things

Jackson Dowling’s journey from Port Macquarie teenager to Flight Nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service began with a boarding school scholarship. His story reveals how opportunity, mentorship and perseverance transformed his relationship with education and changed the course of
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Letting Her Go, Watching Her Fly

For Heidi Shoecraft, sending daughter Maia to boarding school meant trusting others to support her cerebral palsy. What they discovered was that boarding offered Maia independence, friendship, specialist opportunities and the chance to pursue her dream of competing at the
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When Jess Redfern Finally Got to Be Jess

Boarding school didn’t give Jess Redfern her ambition, but it gave her the confidence and freedom to discover where it might take her. From a determined Year 8 boarder to entrepreneur, mum and founder of SAVVI, Jess shares how leaving
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The Schools That Let Them Stay Home

From Yambah Station to boarding school in Toowoomba, Sally Muenster shares the heartbreak of saying goodbye to her children, the importance of staying connected across thousands of kilometres, and the unexpected community boarding brings. It’s a story about keeping rural
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Finding Home Where You Never Expected

Georgie Cavanagh grew up in inner Melbourne, never imagining she’d one day marry a farmer, raise children in the bush and run a global luxury brand from rural Australia. Hear how boarding school planted the first seeds of that remarkable
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She Came to Bourke for Six Months… and Found the Life She Was Meant to Live

Fresh out of school, Prue Ritchie arrived in Bourke expecting to stay six months. Instead, she found a family, community and purpose, becoming a passionate advocate for rural education and children.
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The Ripple Effect: Rowing, Belonging and the Bush

What began with a few boats and a belief that rowing shouldn't belong only to cities and schools is becoming a movement across rural Australia.
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She Never Planned to Be a Farmer… Now She’s Planning for Boarding School

Kaitie Nash, known online as 'First Time Farmer,' shares her journey from Perth to farm life in NSW, navigating drought, motherhood and now boarding school decisions — approaching each challenge, and her son's voice, with honesty and humour.
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She Wasn’t Looking for a Rural Life…

Teacher, ICPA advocate and researcher Hannah Calcino moved from city life to Winton, driven by a belief that every child deserves equitable access to education. Her story explores purpose, place and rural education.
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One Year That Changed Everything

When Kate Brow spent a year boarding in the mountains, she had no idea it would shape her resilience for life. Now a farmer's wife and mother, she's helping rural women find connection through Motherland Village.
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When Choosing Isn’t Easy: A Rural Principal Reflects on the Freedom to Choose

Rural school principal Brett Wilkie shares the deeply personal decisions many country families face when considering boarding school. A thoughtful conversation about choice, community, opportunity and why every family deserves the freedom to do what’s best for their child.
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What Happens When Country Kids Leave, Learn and Come Home?

Agribusiness lawyer and Women in Ag co-founder Maddie Morgan shares how boarding school built her confidence, independence and lifelong friendships, preparing her for a successful career before returning to support rural communities and Australian agriculture.
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When Paradise Isn’t Enough

When Katie and Dan Toney discovered boarding school could offer their children new opportunities without leaving the coastal community they loved, it transformed their family’s future. Their experience is now inspiring other families to rethink what’s possible.
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You Just Make It Work – One Mum’s Journey Through Loss, Boarding School and Bush Resilience

After sudden tragedy, Sophie Elliott rebuilds life in Winton, raising children through distance education, reflecting on rural schooling, boarding school challenges, community resilience, and the sacrifices and opportunities shaping remote Australian families journey.
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