The Agnes Irwin School

The Agnes Irwin School — where we’ve been empowering girls since 1869. Agnes Irwin knows girls, and we’re committed to creating the most advantageous educational environment for girls to thrive. Here, our students experience the joy of discovering their best selves, and our programming and community live into that commitment with vigor and fortitude.

The Agnes Irwin School empowers girls to learn, to lead, and to live a legacy. Agnes Irwin provides girls with a deep foundation in the humanities, mathematics and science, wellness, and athletics. In an inclusive setting that values diversity, students develop skills in critical and analytical thinking, self-expression, effective communication, and collaboration. A rich and varied approach to instruction, team and individual endeavors, inquiry, and assessment enables girls to solve problems, design solutions, create meaning, and prepare for a complex and challenging world.

We believe that all girls and young women have the capacity to lead, and that leadership can take many forms. Therefore, through our instruction, our community interactions, and our daily choices, we affirm this belief and provide an environment that challenges girls to develop the core values of leadership: empathy, integrity, resilience, independent thinking, and commitment to action.

Agnes Irwin students are a part of the global community of girls and women. They are also the trustees of our School’s heritage and traditions. By adopting values that foster equity, justice, social responsibility, civic mindedness, and integrity, and by nurturing positive relationships and intentional decision making, our students and alumnae engage in bold and meaningful ways to impact our interconnected world.

We believe in the power of an all-girls education. A wealth of research demonstrates that girls' schools prepare girls for success in a co-ed world, inspiring them to develop higher expectations for themselves, take calculated risks in the classroom, elect more advanced math and science classes, and develop critical leadership skills.

Our curriculum and programming, powered by the research and efforts of our very own Center for the Advancement of Girls, ensure that everything we do is through the lens of what is best for girls. We know how they learn, how their brains develop, and what their social and emotional needs are, every step of the way.

Our innovative and rigorous curriculum is powered by girl-centered research and student-centered learning, allowing each student to discover her passions along the way. So whether she’s cataloging invertebrates as part of a stream study in Lower School, creating 3D models in our STEAM Studio in Middle School, or applying civil engineering skills to solve real-life traffic jams in Upper School, Agnes Irwin girls are learning the most important lesson of all: Girls can do anything!

Preparing girls to lead and succeed is in our DNA. From PreK to senior year, we nurture the journey of self-discovery and empower girls to recognize that they can do anything they set their minds to. So when the time comes to head off to college, they’re prepared to succeed in whatever paths they choose.

At Agnes Irwin, you'll find kindergarteners coding robots, fifth graders building 3D models of the Nile River, eighth graders designing video games to explain the principles of Reaganomics, and upper schoolers using design-thinking principles to construct product prototypes.

We encourage our girls to create, explore, and innovate. Collaborate. Think about problems from a new angle. We feel strongly enough about it that we made Igniting Curiosity and Creativity in our students the first of four pillars in our Strategic Plan. We also created two campus spaces dedicated to discovery — and launched an Innovation Team that partners with teachers to bring innovative teaching practices to life in our classrooms.