Boarding Houses

A warm welcome
to Dollar


Boarding at Dollar Academy looks and feels different to many other schools. As you will see from this website, our boarders live in period houses that balance traditional charm with modern comfort and style, providing welcoming bedrooms, stimulating work spaces and contemporary social rooms. Moreover, our boarding houses are run by Houseparents who absolutely view the young people in their care as an extension of their own family. They keep a close watchful eye over the academic and pastoral development of every pupil in their house, supported by Assistant Houseparents, house tutors and a team of pastoral specialists.

 

Our houses are home to boys and girls throughout the age range, and with juniors and seniors mixing together, this again adds to the family atmosphere.

Contact Us
Dollar Academy

A Typical Week

Food

Our catering staff cook award-winning, healthy, locally-sourced food on site every day. Our boarders each get breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining hall from Monday – Friday. In addition, a snack after school (often delicious, fresh home baking) and a light supper around 8pm are provided in each boarding house.

Communication

Parents can telephone, text, email, send letters and parcels or contact via Skype/FaceTime/Zoom. While parents are welcome to visit the house whenever they are in the area, lessons and homework times are fixed, so it is best to avoid arriving at those times. Houseparents will also maintain contact with parents (usually by email), with regular updates and academic reports.

Medical

Our nurses are on hand during term time to attend to the health needs of all pupils. Based in our dedicated and well-resourced Nursing Centre, Nurse Finnie and Nurse Scott provide health screening, medical examinations and vaccination programmes in line with National School Health Service guidelines. They also help teach health-related topics in the School’s PSE programme. In addition, we will register all of our boarders with Dollar Health Centre, the local GP surgery.

Weekends

There are plenty of activities to keep our boarders occupied at weekends. Many will choose to be involved in sports fixtures on Saturday morning. Every Sunday afternoon there is a full programme of trips to interesting places and fun events, including sporting events, theme parks, paintballing, go-karting, laser quest, treasure hunts, climbing walls, shopping trips, the cinema, shows and concerts. Boarders can make use of the excellent sports and recreational facilities on site including grass and all-weather playing surfaces, a fitness suite, swimming pool, sports halls and music rooms. They can also visit day pupil friends, or go into town, within reasonable limits and with permissions in place. Senior boarders are permitted to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow for the day. All organised excursions are accompanied, and pupils are always given safe and appropriate guidelines for their own activities.

Download our Boarding prospectus
"We saw highly sensitive and caring attitudes from boarding house staff, which helped them to clearly establish the ethos of home from home in a family atmosphere in the houses”

Care commission 2017

Dollar Academy