Campus Redevelopment Phase One Update

New Facilities for All

Article originally appeared in the June 2021 edition of Focus.

As the only Quaker school in Australia, with distinct and enduring values, along with progressive teaching and learning practices, Friends’ has provided generations of students with a global, co-educational, values-based education.  While the last year has been challenging and we face more uncertain times ahead, there is one thing that makes The Friends’ School community so special.  That is, our unwavering and steadfast commitment to enable students to have an exceptional values-based education available, in one of the most idyllic locations in the world. Even in these tumultuous times,  we don’t walk away from that commitment to provide the best for our students.

As part of providing optimal facilities to support our teaching and learning, it is exciting to see the commencement of the Campus Redevelopment Phase  One on the Commercial Road Campus.  Tasmanian owned Fairbrother builders are working hard on the new Sports Centre excavations, footings and pre-cast concrete walls. The School has worked closely with Fairbrother in the past, including for the construction of The Farrall Centre, and we are proud to be supporting a Tasmanian building firm to undertake this exciting project.

Much thought, planning, consultation and careful design has gone into this project, with the two key components being, firstly the construction of a new multi-purpose Sports Centre and then revitalising the WN Oats building into a state-of-art Teaching and Learning Centre.

New Sports Centre

The new Sports Centre, to replace the existing WN Oats Gym, is being built adjacent to Friends Health & Fitness on the former top Carr Street tennis courts. This multi-purpose new Sports Centre will be an enduring commitment to sport, health and wellbeing at Friends’ in a revitalised ‘sports precinct’.

The site of the New Sports Centre has evolved and changed over the last 35 years and the location is a central point between the two campuses, enabling all students to easily access this modern and contemporary facility.

The versatile and spacious Sports Centre will provide high-quality facilities and services for many sport and co-curricular programs. The centrepiece will be a professional, fully sprung timber floor with a generous three-metre run-off around the court. It will also house two new learning spaces for health and physical education classes.  The new Sports Centre is for the whole school to use and will provide a first-class facility for basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton and other similar court sports.

The Centre will include change-rooms, seating for spectators, extended outdoor ledges for all-weather cover and a new, welcoming reception area and ‘viewing wall’. Covered walkways and lifts from the Sports Centre, through North Block, across to the new learning centre and down to the Main Carpark will address the majority of our access challenges on the Commercial Road campus.

Once the new Sports Centre is built on the top Carr Street tennis courts, Fairbrother will also help us transform the current and outdated WN Oats Gym into a teaching and learning facility. The refurbished WN Oats Centre will also house a new Heads of School Office, Learning Support and a range of contemporary learning and staff spaces.

Supporting our students - now and for the future

Through prudent long-range financial planning, the Board of Governors has been accumulating resources for the revitalisation of our built environment. This includes the retention of a portion of our operating budget in a capital reserve, and the reduction of debt to allow for future borrowing capacity. These transformational changes on the Commercial Road Campus will not be possible, however, without the help of our community.   In addition to savings and borrowings from the School, we are seeking philanthropy from our community to co-fund this vital redevelopment at Friends’. By working and giving together we can ensure that our students have the best possible facilities and programs for their all-round development, learning and enrichment.

It is up to each of us to ensure Friends’ continues to stand apart as a leader in values-based and progressive co-education. There is no greater tradition than that of giving every student the opportunity to use their intellect and creativity to make a difference in our world. 

This is a chance to ‘pay it forward’ and invest in the current and future school community.

If you have any queries, would like to know more about this project or how you can support this exciting transformation, please don’t hesitate to contact:

Director of Community Engagement, Bill Avery (+613) 6238 2301

bavery@friends.tas.edu.au; or Development Manager, Lucy Loney (+613) 6210 2203 lloney@friends.tas.edu.au

For up-to-date information, please visit the School website.