Austin Friars is a coeducational independent day school located in the City of Carlisle, England. The Senior School provides secondary education for 350 boys and girls aged 11–18. There are 150 children aged 4–11 in the Junior School and the Nursery has places for 16 children aged 3–4. Founded by the Augustinian friars in 1951, it is one of the network of Augustinian schools in other parts of the world and welcomes pupils of all denominations.

The Order of St. Augustine (, abbreviated as O.S.A.)—historically Ordo eremitarum sancti Augustini", O.E.S.A., the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine), generally called Augustinians (but not to be confused with the Augustinian Canons Regular) is a Catholic Religious Order, which, although more ancient, was formally created in the thirteenth century and combined several previous Augustinian eremetical Orders into one. In its establishment in its current form, it was shaped as a mendicant Order, one of the four great Orders which follow that way of life. The Order has done much to extend the influence of the Church, to propagate the Roman Catholic Faith and to advance learning. The Order has, in particular, spread internationally the veneration of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Mater boni consilii).