The mood in Sydney Fox’s woodshop is always purposeful and productive as students in First Grade through Eighth Grade industriously invest in designing, constructing, and completing a range of projects from toolboxes to clocks to tables to doghouses, and more. . . Few classes develop every learner’s mind, body, and self-esteem quite like woodshop, one […]

by Maya Angelou Dedicated to the hope for peace, which lies,sometimes hidden, in every heart.We, this people, on a small and lonely planetTraveling through casual spacePast aloof stars, across the way of indifferent sunsTo a destination where all signs tell usIt is possible and imperative that we learnA brave and startling truth.And when we come […]

The events in Atlanta yesterday, during which eight people were the victims of shootings – six of whom were people of Asian descent – is deeply upsetting. It refocuses my attention on the Quaker testimonies of peace and equality while underscoring the truth that not all people are treated as equals and feel equally safe […]

Per an invitation from the Bucks County Herald, the following article was prepared and will be included in their 2021 Parent’s Guide to Schools (to be published this week). The Religious Society of Friends, a religion also known as Quakerism, was founded in the 1600’s with the central belief that within each of us there […]

The Minneapolis-based Search Institute created the Developmental Relationships Framework aimed at fostering “close connections through which young people discover who they are, cultivate abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them.” . I’ve read and re-read the elements of the framework, and I find […]

The following editorial was discussed and prepared by the Heads of Schools of over fifty Friends Schools.  It is rooted in our shared values and the commitment to all children that connect us as Friends schools.  It affirms the principles and beliefs that Friends schools and educators have embraced and held close for over 330 […]

January 20, 2021 Amanda Gorman reads her inauguration poem, ‘The Hill We Climb’

“World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set […]

by Gabriella H., Eighth Grade (as shared by her mother at our January Open House – Gabriella, who has spoken at past OH’s, without being asked, composed and offered this the night before because she did not want to miss her Science test! – I feel moved to share her reflections and personal expression of […]

In my opinion, great educators see teaching not as a job but as a vocation – a calling and a professional pursuit that is particularly worthy and that requires great personal investment and extra dedication. . . I’ve worked with many extraordinary educators over the course of my decades-long career –  including at some very […]