An Alice Springs high school hosting Jewish students on exchange has apologised for allowing a student to dress as Adolf Hitler.
St Philip's College has confirmed a teacher gave the go-ahead for a student to dress as the Nazi dictator this week.
The school has apologised "unreservedly" to students from Melbourne Jewish school Bialik College who were on exchange at the time and saw the costume.
"This was an innocent mistake by a teacher who is a respected, honourable and lovely person who got it wrong on the day," a school spokeswoman said in a statement on Friday.
"We are reviewing our policies on these kinds of events to ensure that nothing like this can happen again.
"It has been a very distressing lesson for all concerned."
The spokeswoman said the student involved had an interest in history and politics and did "the right thing" by getting permission for the costume.
The statement was issued by a Queensland PR firm that boasts expertise in "crisis management".
The ABC reports the Hitler-costumed student was presented as one of the "best dressed" pupils at an assembly.
Bialik College principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner said children "will do silly things".
He's happy with the NT school's "swift and appropriate" response following what he called an "unfortunate situation".
Both schools were treating the incident as an opportunity for learning and growth, Mr Stowe-Lindner told AAP.
