Boundary Training for Boarding Schools: Creating a Culture of Safety

Boarding Schools offer an exceptional educational experience while facing unique safety challenges. A specific training for this school setting is the most effective and appropriate approach for maintaining boundaries between staff and students and having the safest boarding school environment.

Everyone in your Boarding School community must share the same understanding of their responsibilities and must be actively engaged in creating the safest environment for your students to learn and thrive.

Effective safety policies and training must reflect a school’s culture. The information provided needs to be delivered in a way that is easily understood by all staff – residential, teaching, and non-teaching – and leave no opportunity for misunderstandings.

The culture of your school is threaded throughout all activities in your community. Boundary Training should be no different. The training should be relatable and specific to your Boarding School context, to address any situation that may come up within your school.

The SOS ThreeSixty Boundary Training course helps make your Boarding School safer and engages the school community in a culture of student safety in residential life, in the classroom, in sports programs and throughout all activities.

Audiences – Boundary Training for Boarding Schools

This SOS ThreeSixty online training course is intended for all Boarding School staff, as only an integrated safety community will effectively work together for student safety.

This asynchronous 30-minute course is a comprehensive training for your teaching, non-teaching, residential life, coaching, extra-curricular and volunteer staff on how to create the safest environment possible within your Boarding School community.

The course is for:

Teaching Staff
Residential Life
Non-Teaching Staff
Facilities Staff (Custodians, Security, Maintenance)
Athletics Coaches
Contractors (including seasonal staff)

“In 30 minutes this training creates a really healthy balance between responsibility and the privilege of working with young people – all great in my book.”

– Andy Rodford,
Deputy Head of School
St. Michaels University School, Victoria

Course Formats - Online Modules and Group Workshop

Asynchronous Online Modules

Boundary Training for Boarding Schools: Creating a Culture of Safety is an asynchronous, online training course developed by Boarding School leaders in conjunction with safety experts.

Our experts address the most common safety concerns, the most subtle situations and how to avoid unpredictable crises. Through detailed examples and scenarios, best practices and quizzes, this course will ensure your staff is prepared.

The self-paced training presents the fundamentals of strong boundaries in a way that speaks specifically to your school’s culture.

The relatability of the content and specific case studies are key to its effectiveness and the content reflects your Boarding School’s need to empower staff to be effective in supporting the safest school community.

The training not only provides tools to address situations but also clearly defines and articulates reporting protocols.

Key Content

The independent school boarding student experience and vulnerabilities.
Building strong & healthy relationships with students, aligning with your Boarding School’s values.
Defining grooming in the classroom and residential life environments and how it differs from creating strong mentoring relationships.
Boundaries & appropriate teaching faculty, residential life & non-teaching staff/student interactions.
How to support students’ academic and personal lives in a safe way and within the school’s culture.
Managing student and family expectations.
Prevention of common and uncommon risks in the boarding environment and with students off-campus.
Addressing a questionable situation with a student or staff member.

Quick Facts

Total training time: 30 minutes.
Access given for one year.
Technology needed: computer or mobile device.
Tracking and certificate provided.

Learn more about

Interactive Group Workshop For Professional Development

SOS ThreeSixty will consult with your school and prepare a live group session that brings to life the key learnings of the asynchronous program. This session is best scheduled during a Professional Development Day to motivate staff.

Relevant and localized content will engage all members of your team, and the group workshop will reinforce and contextualize the key learnings. Participants will be able to workshop case studies and address situations that they may have experienced. These sessions work to create cohesion within a boarding school community about these important issues.

The SOS ThreeSixty team of child safety experts will lead an interactive online or in-person session that will reinforce and animate the essential elements to support the creation of a community of safety on your campus.

Key Content

Navigating boundaries within your school’s culture.
Addressing school-specific situations.
Strategies for navigating student and family boundary scenarios.
How diversity and inclusion efforts help to address vulnerabilities.
Near misses and what we’ve learned.
How reporting could and should work.
Case study break-out sessions.
Open forum for questions and discussion.

Quick Facts

Half-day session.
Offered as an interactive online group meeting or in-person at your school.
Participant driven questions are addressed.
All content tailored to your community.

Compliance Management & Timeline

Your school staff will receive an email inviting them to the course at an agreed upon date and will have access to the training for the time you designate.

Each individual Boarding School staff member will receive their own unique link to complete the course. The school receives draft language that they may customize and send out to their staff introducing and explaining the course.

Progress reports will be issued at the half-way mark and at the completion of the deadline.

A certificate of completion for HR, insurers and legal requirements is produced upon completion of the course. The school is notified of any non-completions.

The course may be provided to new hires throughout the year to ensure that everyone within the school is trained. Simply notify SOS ThreeSixty of your new hire.

The results :

Your entire Boarding School staff understands the importance of boundaries and safety.
Clearly defined roles, responsibilities and reporting are established and maintained.
A culture of safety that protects your entire Boarding School community.
Certification and tracking for insurance and legal requirements.

Boundaries create safety.

Learn more about our bouNdary training courses

Independent Schools Boundary Training

One-On-One Boundary Training

Feedback from the training

"We were looking for a program that would engage our staff and build on their safety knowledge and skills. After completing the SOS ThreeSixty Boundary Training, so many of my colleagues came up to me and said how strong and effective it was. They felt informed and were able to relate directly to the content and apply it in their everyday interactions with students. This training brings home important messages and gave us such a good vocabulary and framework to sit down together and have meaningful discussions within our school about connecting with our students in a caring and healthy way."

"Their breadth of experience and understanding of our school culture was incredibly helpful in finalizing a document that was practical, actionable and would protect our students and our school."

“School safety has never been more important. Risk management and comprehensive HR policies are critical to protect the reputation and sustainability of all schools. By understanding each school’s individual culture, SOS ThreeSixty delivers unique and engaging trainings that utilize real-world examples and provide those ah-ha moments where safe practices meet reality.”

"I am thankful for the expertise I now have because of the one-on-one work I did with SOS ThreeSixty. Their engaging trainings are an incredible asset for any school leader and they always offer real-world examples that provide that ah-ha moment."

“The Newman School is known for its deep relationships and committed faculty and for those reasons, we knew taking the Boundary Training For Boarding Schools course was essential to our commitment to continue to create a safer and supportive environment for our students and faculty. We are very pleased with the information provided within the course as it is relatable to our school environment needs and common situations. We look forward in continuing our relationship with SOS ThreeSixty as part of our safety training program for our school.”

“SOS ThreeSixty’s Chaperone Training was such a very worthwhile seminar and brought so many important considerations to the forefront. As we begin our travel experiences again post-pandemic - and hope to expand those offerings for students and staff in the safest possible manner - your training session was truly invaluable."

"The work SOS ThreeSixty conducts is really important. We implemented their Boundary Training for Schools: Creating a Culture of Safety online, asynchronous course to all of our staff. I talked to every employee who completed the course and their feedback was really positive. SOS ThreeSixty is our partner in maintaining a Culture of Safety within our nurturing educational community."