FAQs

Stewart House is an integrated residential care, school and health screening facility located in an idyllic setting on Sydney’s northern beaches.  There is no other facility like Stewart House worldwide. As services are provided free-of-charge, Stewart House is one of NSW’s oldest and most respected children’s charities.

Children are nominated for the Stewart House program to have a break from their current circumstance.

Students must be nominated by their home school principal and can only come from public schools in NSW at the ACT.

Every public school is part of a local school area which is allocated one two-week period per year to participate in the Stewart House program.

If you are a caregiver wanting to enrol your child please contact your child’s school Principal or Counsellor. Schools may contact our Student Placements Officer about referring students and in regards to emergency placements.

Children attending receive:

• Free comprehensive health screening including medical, dental, audiometric and optometric and initial treatment where necessary
• An away-from-home experience, in modern, comfortable, secure, clean and appropriately maintained facilities
• A structured learning program to consolidate and expand their repertoire of effective personal and interpersonal skills
• Recreational and experiential activities designed to enhance their wellbeing in order to build self-esteem and resilience
• Engagement with a team of expert, enthusiastic, committed, caring staff who model adaptive social skills and emotional competence

Stewart House is located on 1.2ha of residential land at Freshwater, right on South Curl Curl Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Children come to Stewart House from right across NSW and the ACT.  To facilitate this, we divide the state up into different areas and allocate two weeks of the year for children to come from schools within these areas.

• Offer of Placements – 2019

We encourage children to immerse themselves in our program so that they can enjoy the full 12 day experience.

For this reason, we ask the children to hand in their mobile phones and other personal devices for the duration of their stay. All items are returned to the children at the conclusion of the program.

The program is intensive and the children move around our large site, making phone contact problematic. Should you wish to contact your child during their stay, please include your child’s full name in the “Subject” field, and email them at

students@stewarthouse.org.au

Messages are handed to the children in their cabins each night, where they are offered an opportunity to send a reply.

For any other enquiries please contact the office directly on (02) 9938 3100. Our opening hours are between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

Children attend Stewart House free of charge. Our program costs are met entirely from charitable donations.

All funds raised are used to cover the direct costs of children attending our 12-day program.

Donate now

There are many other ways that you can help Stewart House.

You can help us by donating children’s items such as new or good used clothing, books, toys and Christmas presents, or by organising your own fundraising event for Stewart House. If you are unsure about what items you can donate, please contact the Stewart House Office on 02 9938 3100.

For health reasons, Stewart House cannot accept the following items:

• Used stuffed toys
• Electrical appliances
• Used toiletries (including nail polish and other beauty products)
• Sofas or couches
• Pillows, sheets, doonas and mattresses

Please contact us should you wish to volunteer your services to Stewart House.

Stewart House is a child safe organisation and we require all volunteers to hold a valid NSW Working with Children Check (WWC).