The Armidale School

The Armidale School (abbreviated as TAS) is an independent Anglican co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Administration of the schools is formalised as a company limited by guarantee that operates under the Corporations Act. Founded in 1894 as the New England Proprietary School, The Armidale School has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 640 students, including 250 boarders from Years 6 to 12. TAS has classes of students in Pre-Kindergarten (4 years old), Junior School for children in Kindergarten to Year 5 which offers the IB Primary Years Programme, a Middle School for those in Years 6 to 8 (offering the IB Middle Years Programme) and a Senior School from Years 9 to 12 (18 years old). In 1993, The Armidale School became the first school in Australia to provide internet access for its students. The school is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and is one of only three Round Square schools in the state of New South Wales. TAS is also the only member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS) located outside of the Sydney metropolitan area. History The Armidale School was founded in 1894 as a boarding school primarily for the sons of the gentry, however the origins of the school can be traced to 1838, when Patrick Grant, a magistrate at Maitland, conceived the idea of a proprietary school for boys in the Hunter Valley. This idea was taken over by prominent members of the Church of England in the northern districts of New South Wales, and 500 pounds was obtained from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, as a result of the efforts of the first (and only) Bishop of Australia, William Grant Broughton. In 1840, a site for the school was purchased at Honeysuckle Point, in Newcastle. Nothing more came of the plan until the appointment of William Tyrrell, as the first Bishop of Newcastle in 1846. The property was passed on to Tyrrell, and in 1854 the land was resumed by the Hunter River Railway Company.