School Formal Venues in Hills District

Fitting the whole year group, a proper dance floor and an arrival worth photographing: those are the tests of a formal venue, and the Hills has several built around them. Visy Dior in Norwest runs school formal packages with a red carpet arrival, mocktails, a two or three-course meal and a DJ. Cropley House (Watkins Road, Baulkham Hills) and Springfield House (New Line Road, Dural) both list school formals on their calendars, and Allegro at Kenthurst hosts them too, with the whole property given over to one event at a time.

Year-group numbers against each room:

• Up to 350 standing: Visy Dior's Giorgia Grand Ballroom, or around 250 at banquet tables, with a pre-function lounge for arrivals
• Up to 300 for cocktails: either of Cropley House's ground-floor ballrooms, the Victoria Room and the Elizabeth Room, which also seat 250 at a banquet
• Up to 280 seated: The Pavilion at Springfield House, a black marquee with a clear five-metre ceiling, or up to 180 in The Manor
• About 190 seated or 300 standing: Allegro's main dining hall, with its dance floor at the centre
• A smaller cohort: the upstairs Cropley Room for up to 150, or Visy Dior's Giorgia Lounge for 140

Allegro is set up differently from the rest. It is hired as a venue package from $4,500 minimum spend, and the school or parent committee brings in a licensed caterer, who gets use of the kitchen from two hours before the start.