The Friends’ School

The Friends’ School is the leading academic school in Tasmania and is located in North-Hobart, the island capital. The Friends’ School is one of only two schools in Tasmania to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB).

Friends’ is not only one of the oldest schools in Australia, established over 130 years ago, but also welcomes International students as a way of enriching school life. The Friends’ School offers accommodation in 49 single rooms for students at its on-campus residence, Walker House, for local and international students from Years 7 to 12. Five-day and seven-day boarding is is available.

All students in the upper classes are members of tutor groups. Tutor groups consist of four people from each class in high school, making a total of about 16 students. All members of a tutor group are housed in the boarding school, with each house having eight such groups. This means that each student not only has an older contact person in school matters, but also a possible confidant who is not a teacher. All internationals are given two “buddies” at the beginning until they have become accustomed.

The facilities of The Friends’ School are mainly situated in two locations; the Argyle Street Campus for primary school pupils and classes 11 and 12 and the Commercial Road Campus for classes 7-10. The school also has the Friends Health & Fitness complex for sports lessons and common activities. International students have access to the school’s heated indoor pool, sauna, steam bath, gym, tennis courts, juice bar and physiotherapy facilities.

A few streets away, The Friends’ School has its own sports complex with facilities for cricket, hockey, softball and football. The school also has a boathouse with competitive rowing boats and sailing facilities at New Town Bay in the Lutana district.

On an optional basis, the school also offers about 20 “clubs” for a wide range of interests in sports, games and hobbies. These include chess, film, ceramics and woodwork, as well as musical and philosophy.