Wilmington Friends School

Wilmington Friends School is a community. We offer an unsurpassed academic program, and just as important, Friends is a great place to grow up. What often brings families to Quaker education (95% of the families who choose Friends are not Quaker) is the appeal of an academic program with depth—one that asks students to question, to collaborate, to be creative, to take risks—within a caring community that balances focus on the individual with responsibility to the common good.

Our teachers (including coaches) know our students; teachers provide individual attention and are deeply invested in students’ growth and success. Because they are known as individuals, students are able to discover and develop the best in themselves; because they are valued and held to high standards as members of a community, students are motivated to contribute and to lead.

For parents, Friends is a great place to join with other families who share a commitment to education that inspires the best in each student while fostering an active responsibility to the good of all. There is no “typical” Friends School student or family. We recognize diversity of thought, identity, and experience as essential to both academic excellence and the character of our community. Wilmington Friends, a Quaker school with high standards for academic achievement, challenges students to seek truth, to value justice and peace, and to act as creative, independent thinkers with a conscious responsibility to the good of all.

Wilmington Friends School offers a college preparatory curriculum—including athletics, the arts and community service—in which Quaker values and high expectations are mutually supportive. The defining belief of Quakerism is that there is “that of God” in everyone. That belief gives rise to a school community that welcomes a variety of faith traditions and where we share an obligation to seek and answer what is best in ourselves and in others. Students at Friends are challenged to realize their potential: as learners, well prepared to succeed in college and career; as leaders, recognizing their power and opportunity to be agents of change; and as active and responsible members of communities, from the classroom to the world. The school seeks to serve students, age two through grade twelve, who demonstrate ongoing promise in their ability to succeed at Friends, both academically and in meeting expectations for integrity and conduct. Underlying that philosophy, we believe:

• We serve students best when we model and teach a commitment—spiritual, intellectual and active—to core Quaker principles: integrity, community, equality, peace, stewardship and simplicity.
• Excellence in education requires teaching students to develop a multicultural sensibility, with both self-awareness and an orientation to learning about various points of view. Diversity of thought, identity and experience is integral to our mission and educational objectives.
• Conversation and partnership with people of various national identities are essential to prepare students to act effectively in an increasingly international context for learning, work and service.
• A commitment to environmental education and stewardship is fundamental to the expression of our school’s Quaker values and community responsibilities.
• Education must include elements of choice and risk with accountability, and help students to develop self-discipline, resilience and motivation to sustain their joy as lifelong learners.
• The process of seeking intellectual and spiritual truth must respond to changing contexts, new information, and a variety of experiences and insights. The Quaker practice of Meeting for Worship is central to the life of our school as an opportunity to seek truth together.

At Wilmington Friends, diversity is integral to our educational objectives and to our mission as a Quaker school. The defining belief of Quakerism is that there is “that of God” in everyone. That belief gives rise to a profound respect for the dignity of each person and an obligation to lead on issues of social justice. Guided by Quaker principles, we seek to build and sustain a community of students, families, faculty, staff, administrators and trustees with a variety of identities—in terms of culture, economic means, ethnicity, gender, nationality, race, religion and sexual orientation.

We define diversity not only by the composition of our school community but also by the character of our interactions and the high level of scholarship in our program. We recognize that diversity of thought, identity and experience is essential to academic excellence and to the pursuit of truth, in the Quaker tradition. In and beyond the classroom, we seek to instill an orientation to learning about various countries, cultures, experiences, points of view, and identities that inform individual and family stories. That intentional engagement allows for honest discussion, including disagreement and the growth that can come from it, promoting mutual respect and a broadened perspective for all.