Independent Schools

The over 10,000 stu­dents that attend inde­pen­dent schools in Tas­ma­nia come from a wide range of back­grounds. As a sec­tor, inde­pen­dent schools pro­vide an edu­ca­tion for all stu­dents, and serve a diverse range of communities. 

Tas­man­ian inde­pen­dent schools include:

• Schools affil­i­at­ed with Chris­t­ian denom­i­na­tions, for exam­ple Angli­can, Quak­er, Luther­an, Unit­ing Church, Sev­enth Day Adven­tist and Presbyterian
• Non-denom­i­­na­­tion­al Chris­t­ian schools
• Stein­er schools
• Schools with unique edu­ca­tion­al philosophies
• Schools that spe­cialise in meet­ing the needs of stu­dents with iden­ti­fied needs
• Schools that cater for stu­dents at severe edu­ca­tion­al risk due to a range of social/​emotional/​behavioural and oth­er risk fac­tors (Spe­cial Assis­tance Schools)

Inde­pen­dent schools serve a diverse range of com­mu­ni­ties and each vary in terms of the com­mu­ni­ties they serve, along­side their size and stu­dent pop­u­la­tion. Diver­si­ty is a key fea­ture and strength of the inde­pen­dent school­ing sys­tem, and this diver­si­ty is cel­e­brat­ed in a unique way with­in each school context.

Inde­pen­dent schools are in both city and rur­al areas and fea­ture small and large day schools and board­ing schools, along­side co-edu­ca­tion­al and sin­gle-sex schools. They are set up and gov­erned on an indi­vid­ual school basis and are answer­able to their own gov­ern­ing board or man­age­ment committee.

In 2021, 41 TCE stu­dents from inde­pen­dent schools achieved a Ter­tiary Entrance Score (TER) in the top 100 of Tas­man­ian TCE stu­dents. Of the 683 Year 12 stu­dents at Tas­man­ian inde­pen­dent schools, 90.8% achieved the TCE (com­pared to 79.7% in all school sec­tors) and 74% achieved an ATAR (com­pared to 45% in all school sec­tors). How­ev­er, inde­pen­dent schools are also recog­nised for their pas­toral care for stu­dents and for devel­op­ing social and cit­i­zen­ship skills.

In 2021, Tas­man­ian inde­pen­dent schools employed 972 full time equiv­a­lent (FTE) teach­ers and 633 FTE oth­er staff. The stu­dent to teach­ing staff ratio in Tas­man­ian inde­pen­dent schools was 12.5 for pri­ma­ry (com­pared to 13.7 gov­ern­ment schools and 15.6 Catholic schools) and 9.5 for sec­ondary (com­pared to 12 gov­ern­ment schools and 11.7 Catholic schools).