Our Community

Cover image: Students at the launch of the 2022 Cancer Council Relay for Life

2022 Cancer Council Relay for Life

The Cancer Council Relay for Life is a fundraising and awareness raising event in which cancer survivors, carers and other people affected by cancer join together as a community to walk laps of the Domain Athletics Centre Track. It is a chance to celebrate the journeys of those who have survived their cancer battle, remember and share memories of those who we’ve so sadly lost, and to fight back against this deadly and unpredictable disease.

For participants, the relay is a chance to join together with friends and family focused on a common goal, to remember people to whom they have a personal connection that have been affected by cancer, and unite together to raise funds for crucial aspects of the Cancer Council’s work. My own experience of the Relay is that it has always been a fun and spirited event, with performances from community groups and teams from all walks of life participating. However, it is also a very emotional time for many involved, a chance to remember individuals who played an important role in many people's lives.

The 2022 Hobart Relay for Life will take place from 12pm on Saturday the 26th of March until 9am on Sunday the 27th of March.

The 2022 Relay is a particularly special event for The Friends’ School ‘Friendlies’ team. The School has been asked to coordinate and speak at the Luminary Ceremony, a reflective aspect of the event where everyone stops walking for a few minutes to join together for reflection - a privilege befitting of our School’s Quaker values. Following this, everyone joins together to walk a lap of the track in silence, carrying lanterns, paying tribute to all those who we have lost, and those who are still fighting. We look forward to being able to help coordinate this special part of the event. There are plenty of opportunities for community members to get involved, whether they are a parent, staff member, student or alumni.

We encourage students to join the team, fundraise with their family and friends, help out with fundraising events at school prior to the day, and even potentially join the Student Committee, with the option to stay overnight during the Relay at th Domain if they take on one of the committee positions.

Staff are encouraged to join the School team, the ‘Friendlies’ as well. We would love to see you there on the day! There are also plenty of opportunities to help with supervision, fundraising and planning for everyone.

The 2022 Relay team greatly appreciates community donations to the 'Friendlies 2022'. All the funds raised will go directly to Cancer Council where they will be used to help fund medical research with the aim to find a cure, support families throughout their cancer journey and transport patients to treatment.

We hope you will consider joining us in our fundraising efforts leading into the event, or even on the day for the 2022 Relay for Life.

-Lily Neyland

Boxthorn Project

Eradicating Boxthorn and rehabilitating The Friends’ School sports grounds at our Bell Street Site

For those unfamiliar with the extensive and dedicated work being undertaken by various stakeholders to eradicate Boxthorn adjoining our Sports Facility at Queens Walk and Bell Street site, including neighbouring land and shared boundaries, we wanted to share a bit of history, current activities and the future of the project, with our community. Read the article here

Shoe Donation Day and Fundraiser

The Morris Council held a shoe donation day and fundraiser with an amazing result achieved. 350 pairs of good quality shoes were donated to Kingston Neighbourhood House and $415 was donated to Save the Children Australia, through a gold coin donation to wear free dress for the day. We are very grateful and appreciative of the student and family paricipation in this event that encourages kindness and a sense of giving.

Year 8 Connections Service Day

Year 8 students participated in a Connections Service Day, engaging in various initiatives throughout Hobart, which highlighted that being sensitive to the needs of others and the environment and being strong in service is at the cornerstone of everything we do.

Activities included Aged Care Angels (creating angel decorations for Christmas to donate to the elderly in an aged care facility), Morris Movement and Craft, learning about seed regeneration practices at Tolosa Park Reserve, Seven Mile Beach Clean Up, Loui’s Van food preparation and Hobart City Mission Shopping.

Morris Grandparents' and Older Friends' Day

It was fabulous for Kindergarten to Year 6 students to invite their family and friends along to Grandparents and Older Friends’ Day. There were outside learning displays, music performances and morning tea. The Morris Primary Years Campus was filled with laughter, learning and a real sense of community. It was fabulous to see our grandparents and older friends' engaging with all the activities and sharing in the learning with our students.

The Jenny Wood Common Room

The living room at Robey House officially became The Jenny Wood Common Room to acknowledge Jenny’s many years of service to the school, including her significant contribution to the GAP program. For many years, Robey House has accommodated our GAP students who carry out a diverse range of tasks and activities that support our curricular and co-curricular programs across Kindergarten to Year 12.

Supporting Library Aid International

Our School libraries and The School Shop received donations of used textbooks for Library Aid International (LAI), who provide learning materials for schools who can’t afford to purchase them. LAI have previously sent resources to schools in several African countries, Fiji, the Philippines and Myanmar. Pictured is some of the haul from this textbook drive. Thank you to everyone in our School community for your donations. It is wonderful to know that many of the textbooks we no longer need can be used to improve literacy and educational outcomes and life opportunities for children in disadvantaged schools in developing countries.

Mental Health Initiative

Year 9 Student Rupert Bullard was inspired to hold a fundraiser for Mullets for Mental Health/Mental Health Week Tasmania for a number of reasons. He is extremely passionate about mental health, and during September, a number of his peers and Rupert cut their hair to raise money for the Black Dog Institute. Before this event Rupert had not heard of this charity, but on reading more he really liked the work they are doing to work towards better mental health for everyone. By the end of the month the student group ‘Muppets with Mullets’ had raised a total of $7,731. This was extremely exciting for everyone involved, but Rupert thought it would be nice to bring a larger audience's attention to this charity. That is why, with the help of a number of teachers, he organised a free dress day on Friday 15 October with the theme of orange - the colour theme of Mental Health Week. The free dress day raised a further $563.30, meaning that a total of $8,294.3 was raised for the Black Dog Institute. This was an extremely exciting outcome as all proceeds will support research into mental health and help those who need it most.

End of Year Gathering

Friends’ families, students and staff attended the End Of Year Gathering, held in The Farrall Centre on Wednesday 1 December.

This year the theme was Peace andincluded contributions from all sections of the School and staff. It was an opportunity for The Friends’ School community to come together to listen, reflect, centre and share. It was a meaningful and reflective event.

If you were unable to attend, please find a recording of the gathering here.

Friends’ Class Reps

A very special welcome to all our new Friends’ families who will be joining us next year. Friends’ Class Reps invite all parents to connect with other families in their year level via ‘private’ Facebook groups or directly via your year level Class Reps listed below.

Class Reps volunteer to help foster connections amongst their year level, welcome new families and facilitate social events throughout the year (when there isn’t a global pandemic). They’re also pretty good at answering loads of questions from new families navigating Friends’ for the first time. We thank all our Class Reps for volunteering their time and energy to help connect and build our school community.

Class Reps Needed

**Class Reps Needed - in Kindergarten, Year 8 and Years 10 to 12. If you would like to volunteer please get in touch with Bill Avery or Lucy Loney in the Community Engagement Office.**

2022 Class Reps

Prep

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Board of Governors Appointments

The Board of Governors appointed Sarah Sealy and Tom Dundas to the Board on Tuesday 23 November 2021. Sarah has over 15 years of experience in civil litigation, workplace relations and insurance law. Sarah is an alumnus and will be a current parent at Friends' in 2022.

Tom was a professional musician and teacher and has recently moved into the community services sector. Tom is a life-long Quaker and has previously served on the Management Committee for Quaker Service Australia. We look forward to Sarah and Tom's contribution to the School as Board Members.

Campus Redevelopment Update

(from The Mercury 03/12/21)

The only Quaker school in Australia has an exciting number of projects under way for the next few years that will see a major renewal of teaching and learning facilities.

As part of a Master Plan approved in 2016 a redevelopment will take place across campuses addressing capacity and accessibility challenges.

Pictured above: Architect design render of The Friends’ School’s new Sports Centre.

The school’s immediate focus will be improvements to the Commercial Road campus in North Hobart which will see a new Sports Centre open in early 2022 as well as a new learning centre on the site of the current WN Oats Gymnasium.

“The Campus Redevelopment Stage One is one of the most significant and transformational building projects on the School’s Commercial Road Campus in the last three decades,” said principal Nelson File.

Pictured above: The Friends’ School’s new Sports Centre under construction. Students Luca Wesseldine, Eli Swan, Josh Zalstein, Violet Owen & Sophie Cole with Head of Secondary Sport John White and Deputy Principal Shaun O’Rourke.

“Through prudent long-range financial planning and future support from our community, we hope to deliver these projects by the end of 2022. Our new Sports Centre and Teaching and Learning Centre will be transformational for current and future generations of Friends’ students”.

2021 Echoes Yearbooks and Information Card Magnets

Copies of the 2021 Echoes yearbook were distributed to students at the end of Term 4, as well as an information card magnet (one per household), containing dates and contact details, which is a repalcement of the printed calendar. If you did not receive a copy of the yearbook or magnet, there are some available at Main Reception.