Boarding is an immersive environment of discovery and opportunity where you can embrace your individuality, discover who you are, and strive for the future. Welcome to boarding at Ridley!
Below is the general information that all boarders should know before arriving in September.
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Every Ridleian, whether day or boarding, belongs to one of our ten boarding Houses. Each House possesses its own culture and charm and is named after Ridley’s founding members. Each has its own unique personality - mascot, chants, colours, traditions and history.
All new boarders are invited to move into their Houses on September 1st, while previous Ridley boarders are invited to return in the afternoon of September 2nd.
Plan your arrival using the information below.
If you live outside of driving distance from campus, we recommend booking your flight to the Toronto Pearson International Airport or the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which are both approximately one hour from campus.
You can book a Niagara Airbus transfer through TigerNET. The cost will be billed directly to your child's student account.
Steps for booking Niagara Airbus transportation:
Alternatively, you may book directly with Niagara Airbus. When booking directly, please mention that you are a Ridley student. Contact Niagara Airbus at 905-374-8111, [email protected], or through their website.
International Student Guardianship Canada (ISGC) offers individual or group transportation services to any location, including Ridley College's St. Catharines campus.
If your child will travel alone and arrive in Canada before September 4th, they may require a safe place to stay before school starts. Below are some accommodation options:
Hospitalité Canada has been working with Ridley College for over 15 years to provide care to international students needing a kind and safe place to live during school breaks.
You can submit your child’s homestay request via their online form.
International Student Guardianship Canada (ISGC) offers a short-term homestay programme which allows students to spend school breaks in a safe and friendly home within a community in Ontario. All host families are visited regularly, and their homes have been screened for safety and cleanliness. ISGC homestay families provide annual police background checks for natural parents' comfort and peace of mind.
Ridley College’s mission is to inspire flourishing lives. Through lived experiences, boarders develop a system of values to achieve a more flourishing experience and enjoy living here.
Being a good housemate and roommate may come more naturally to some than others, but students must live well alongside each other. Different cultural or practiced norms are common in a school that draws from over 55 nations. As such, differences in opinion and conflict will happen. Ultimately, it is the Head of House who will address significant issues or violations of the House values. Students should inform the Head of House directly when issues cannot be settled.
In addition to the student-driven values, the residence life team (adults in the House) expects the following individual contributions from each student:
On a rotational basis, the boarders in the dorm will be assigned House jobs on a weekly schedule that help to keep the dorm House functioning while, at the same time, helping our amazing cleaning staff. These will be overseen by a student House captain and inspected by the adult on duty.
The House jobs include but are not limited to:
Your home away from home.
We've compiled a list of packing items that we suggest students bring when moving into a boarding house at Ridley.
Each room has some basic furniture and storage areas, but students should feel free to make it feel as much like home as possible with décor, personal items, and comforts.
As a foundation, each room includes:
Valuable items should always be locked in the student's wardrobe. If there is a concern about large amounts of cash, travel documents and student visas, the Head of House has a safe in their office to hold onto such items and should be given advance notice when they need to be retrieved.
We do not have unlimited room to store as much as students may have at home. Students need to be able to move around their room easily in the case of an emergency, and the cleaning staff needs to be able to vacuum the floors. Students should avoid cluttering and messy rooms. Students are strongly encouraged to consider what they need to bring to campus and what could be left at home.
There is often a desire to bring your whole home life with you when travelling to campus. While this may help you feel more comfortable, students should consider the following list to avoid travelling with or purchasing the following items.
Note: The Head of House can confiscate and/or hold any of the following devices until the student can remove the item(s) from campus.
Prohibited items:
Study, play and build lasting friendships in our common areas.
The main floor common room is the primary place for meetings and social events. The common room is open to students from around campus when accompanied by a student from the House. This is the only location where students who do not live in the dorm may visit. It is expected that all students care for the common room as if it was their own home.
This includes:
Each House will have various items to make students feel more at home. Examples include:
Each floor of each House has a common bathroom with stalls, showers and urinals (boys' Houses only).
The bathrooms are always open, and the lights are motion censored. Keeping the bathrooms clean is important for the wellbeing of all students and our cleaning staff, who will be encouraging good habits.
Bathroom etiquette includes:
Students should notify an adult if there is a plumbing issue or another problem in the bathroom as soon as possible.
There are various long-term storage options for mid-year and summer holiday storage.
The hallways and foyer of the House are shared spaces and should be cared for similarly to the other areas.
There is a shared laundry room facility in each House for the students to wash and dry their own clothes. The laundry room is always open, and students are encouraged to do it in their free time. This does not include during study or after lights out.
In the room, there are:
With so many boarders using these facilities, things can get quite busy. Students must be attentive to their machines and maintain order in the room. As such:
Each student will have access to the printers and scanners across campus to meet all their academic or personal needs. All students will be given a student number (located on their key card), which will be needed to use all printers and scanners on campus.
The safety and security of our boarding Houses is our number one priority.
Each student is provided with a room key (for their dorm room), and great care should be taken for its safety.
These keys are stamped with an individual identification number and registered to that student for the year. If the stamped number of the returned key does not match the registered number, the student’s key will be considered lost.
If the student's key is lost, the lock will be replaced, and new keys will be issued to all students in the room to ensure the room's security is not compromised. To cover the costs, $100 will be charged to the student’s account.
Each student will also receive a key card for access to the dorm and all student areas on campus. This includes access to the academic buildings and athletic complex but does not include other dorms.
This key card will also allow students to access printers around campus and pay for items at the on-campus store.
The loss of a key card must be reported immediately to the Head of House so the card can be cancelled. A new key card will be issued to the student at a cost of $25.
Students should always have their key and key card with them, and rooms should be kept locked whenever there is no one there to ensure the security of everyone’s belongings. Rooms must be kept unlocked whenever someone is in the room to ensure quick and efficient room checks in case of a fire.
While specific academic schedules will be posted on the TigerNET platform under Form Central, the House will have its own routines as well. Below is a sample schedule for each day of the week.
Friday is similar to every other weekday (during the day) but differs slightly after the academic classes conclude.
Various weekend events (both mandatory and optional) will be available for the students to participate in. These vary greatly but may include some of the following:
Excellent Standing (ES) recognizes students who have proven their academic and social self-discipline. Head of Houses, who are informed about both social and academic performance, grant qualified students ES.
Students who have earned ES can determine when and where they will conduct their evening study as long as they do not disturb other students. The privilege can be lost through irresponsible behaviour or lack of academic effort, as determined by the Head of House bi-weekly.
A pass is what the boarding House refers to any time a student departs from campus. This may happen for a variety of reasons, including:
Each House uses an application called Orah that enables the residence staff to keep track of where each student is and who they are with. Students will be shown how to operate the Orah application upon arrival. There is also a downloadable Orah app for smartphones that students can use to ‘tap’ into one of the several locations around campus, including the House.
For school trips such as sports fixtures or class outings, students will:
For boarding students wishing to leave campus for short durations during approved times (such as to go to the store), students will:
* This pass procedure does not require parent input.
For day trips that last for several hours, including leaving the city, students will:
Upon arrival to campus, students will be shown how to use Orah and the House iPads.
The process is slightly more complex for overnight trips, requiring approval from parents through Orah. For this process to be started, parents will receive an email inviting them to create an account to link to their child in the Orah system. After the account is created, parents can use it to request, decline, or approve passes.
Requesting passes involves inputting the planned activities of your child, including:
Once a request is made, the supervising adult (if not the parent making it) will be notified for their approval. Finally, the Head of House will be notified to place their approval on the pass. If there is any question about the validity of the information, you or the adult on the pass may be contacted to verify the plans.
Students may also request these types of passes and must go through the same process, though parents will receive an email notification once it is complete.
Approving and declining passes will only require a simple click of a button from an auto-generated email initiated by your child. If you are the parent of a returning student, you can use last year's account. You can retrieve your password from the login page if you have forgotten it.
Students are expected to remain at the school until the official end of classes and to return on time at the end of each weekend and vacation break. Problems with travel arrangements should be discussed with the Head of House.
Birthdays are celebrated throughout the year in many ways. As you know, boarders won’t have their families around, so the residence team will seek ways to help celebrate those students by providing treats for the individual or House on their behalf. Parents often reach out to surprise their children with a treat from a local business, which is always a huge hit and something the children genuinely love. If you would like to send treats or coordinate a local supplier to deliver items, please get in touch with the Head of House.
Some excellent local suppliers of cakes, cupcakes and treats include, but are not limited to:
Students may receive mail and parcels at the school from retailers or residential origins.
All deliveries should be clearly labelled with the student’s name. The central mail room will determine which House to send the mail to, and it will be delivered two to three times a week. For larger items, students may be requested to pick up the item from the mail room after receiving an email notification. Students are not to go to the mailroom to grab packages on their own unless they have permission from their Head of House and it has been communicated to the mail room.
It is not common practice for mail to be searched upon arrival on campus, and it is assumed that students take responsibility for the items being delivered. If this trust is broken, student deliveries will be re-routed to the Head of House and must be opened in their presence.
The schools mailing address is:
2 Ridley Rd.
St. Catharines, Ontario
L2R 7C3
Canada
If a PO box is required, use 3013.
Outgoing mail can be sent directly from the school. Packages and shipments will be weighed and quoted for mailing costs, which will be charged to students’ accounts.
Upon arrival, students are taught safety procedures for their House in the case of an emergency so that they can live with peace of mind knowing what to do, no matter the situation.
Ridley College maintains 24-hour health coverage at our on-campus health center.
Fire is a significant threat to any communal living situation. Drills are carried out within the first week of school and periodically throughout the year. In the event of a drill or an actual fire, an alarm will sound, and all students will be expected to exit using the closest and most accessible door possible.
The assembly area for each House will be communicated by the Head of House to their students.
Alerting a sleeping roommate, finding that person outside, and organizing by flats is an essential action for students to help assist with the quick counting of all students.
Ridley College has a comprehensive lockdown procedure that is used in the event of an emergency.
The procedure is updated and tested annually with Niagara Regional Police and the Fire Marshal's Office. All students are trained in the lockdown procedure in the fall, including recognizing the lockdown alarm and messaging over the speaker system. While this training will primarily take place in the classrooms, students who find themselves in a dorm should:
Students should never approach anyone acting suspiciously on campus. While we are a gated campus, people from the community can be spotted on campus before security has a chance to intervene. Such events should be reported immediately to someone of authority. Students should not use their key cards to let someone gain access to school buildings.
Students should enter the Campus Security contact number into their cell phone directory lists (905- 932-3188). This is not to replace 911, where an immediate response of the Police, Fire or Ambulance is necessary. A security guard is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Security Cameras can be found in the high traffic areas of the dorm and on every exit. These high-resolution cameras are in place to further increase and protect the security of our students and the campus itself.
Following House placement in the spring, your Heads of House (HOH) will send a welcome email and additional information for the coming school year. Once you have your HOH's contact information, you can ask them questions about your boarding House.
If you have any general questions about boarding at Ridley, please get in touch with one of our Deans of Boarding, Jessica Roud ([email protected]) or Andrew McNiven ([email protected]).
