Giving at Friends'
The Friends' School CRICOS No. 00477G
Illuminate: The Campaign for The Friends’ School
At the end of this year, Illuminate - Campaign for The Friends’ School, will draw to a close. Over the course of the last 3 years the Campaign has drawn support from across the Friends’ community to contribute to the Campus Redevelopment Phase One building works on the Commercial Road Campus, and to enhance the School’s scholarship and bursary funds.
Notwithstanding the global pandemic and associated economic challenges that followed, we are delighted and humbled to report that to date, the Friends’ community has contributed $1,324,747.17 over the course of the Illuminate campaign.
These generous community donations contributed $1,008,250.25 to The Revell Sports Centre and transformed WN Oats Centre, $34,840.00 to the School’s Scholarship, Bursary & Prizes Fund and $281,656.92 to The Mather Endowment Trust.
The impact has been transformational for students at Friends’.
These new state-of-the-art facilities have, and will significantly enhance, the learning and wellbeing and environment of generations of students. A key outcome has also been to enable equity of access on the campus which has been achieved with lifts and covered walkway access.
The Revell Sports Centre opened in Term 1, 2022 featuring a professional, fully sprung flooring system, full size courts for a variety of sports including a fully automated basketball system, disability access and shower/toilet rooms, courtside seating for students, families and spectators, enlarged court perimeter for increased safety, extended outdoor ledges for all-weather cover and two new learning spaces for health and physical education classes.
The WN Oats Centre opens in Term 1, 2023 and will become our central learning ‘corridor’ at the heart of the Commercial Road campus. With an abundance of natural light the new Centre is a calm and peaceful environment featuring new contemporary classrooms with smart technology built in for creative, collaborative learning, the incorporation of Access & Inclusion normalising differentiated learning needs, flexibility to accommodate an entire year level through to small group learning and visibility between classrooms that generates a feeling of connection and a sense of place and community for staff and students that encourages enhanced positive social behaviour.
Growing our scholarship and bursary capacity remains vitally important at Friends’ reflecting the shared values of our community who often wish to ‘pay it forward’ in gratitude for their Friends’ education. Our community’s contributions to the Illuminate campaign have made it possible to enhance opportunities and access for families and young people with limited means, increase our ability to attract and support talented and deserving students, increase our ability to support our rural and regional community for whom the costs of a quality education are challenging, and continue our commitment to the diversity of the student body which is essential for the intellectual, social, cultural and moral strength of The Friends’ School.
The Illuminate campaign will conclude on 31 December 2022. Continued donations will enable the School to reduce borrowings and associated interest costs, enabling the School to move on to new projects sooner for the benefit of Friends’ students. If you haven’t already donated, please consider doing so now. Every gift is appreciated - no matter the size.
Get Involved
For further information about the giving programs at Friends’, please visit our website or contact Lucy Loney or Bill Avery.