Friends Central School

Friends' Central School is an independent, coeducational Quaker day school founded in 1845 and serving approximately 750 students in Nursery through grade 12. Located in the Philadelphia suburbs, the School has two campuses. The Middle & Upper Schools are located just outside of West Philadelphia in Wynnewood, and the Lower School is on our Old Gulph Road campus in the heart of Wynnewood.

The exceptional faculty at Friends' Central offers a curriculum that is both intellectual and thoughtful, cultivating the intellectual, spiritual, and ethical growth of our students. Our pedagogy is grounded in continuing revelation, reflection, integrity, and a willingness to accept responsibility. From Nursery to grade 12, our students participate in a process designed to foster creative, critical, and flexible thinking, along with compassion. As they transform from playful children to skilled, self-possessed teenagers, they are always intellectually curious and engaged thinkers. Friends' Central prepares graduates to succeed in college and in life.

When Friends’ Central School was founded in 1845, it was a time of great division among Quakers. Our school was founded to include and serve all Quakers and was, by design, co-educational and open to non-Friends’ from the day it opened. This interest in inclusivity continues today as Friends’ Central strives for racial, religious and socio-economic diversity in its student body and among its faculty.

We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and diverse community. All constituencies - faculty, staff, students, administrators, parents, trustees, and alumni/ae - are responsible for an awareness of and ongoing dialogue around equity issues of race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, privilege, religion, physical ability, and family structure, as well as for enhancing the Philosophy of Inclusivity and Awareness articulated in our Diversity Statement.

From the founding of the Society of Friends in the mid-17th Century, Quakers have recognized the spiritual equality of all persons. This basic tenet of Quakerism stems from the belief that there is “that divine spark” in everyone. This philosophy has guided Friends' Central School’s commitment to the ideal of respecting all persons.

Friends’ Central School is committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and diverse community. All constituencies - faculty, staff, students, administrators, parents, trustees, and alumni/ae - are responsible for an awareness of and ongoing dialogue around equity issues of race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, privilege, religion, physical ability, and family structure.

Our commitment is based on Quaker testimony and practice in which we honor each perspective and life experience. Through an intentional curriculum and differentiated methods of teaching, we seek to empower and engage all traditionally marginalized groups. Our community as a whole benefits when we listen and involve a broader range of voices.

Challenging, intellectual, and engaging, Friends' Central builds foundational skills within a curriculum that is innovative, thoughtful, and dynamic. At every level, our students are encouraged to ask questions and to seek answers that push beyond their impressive accumulation of facts. Never satisfied by “what”, our students are always asking “why” “how” and, perhaps most importantly, “why not”? Friends’ Central students distinguish themselves while at FCS, in college where they are known for their exceptional preparation, and in the world where their contributions are extraordinary.

At Friends’ Central, School life and curriculum are steeped in Quaker values. At every level, we promote a commitment to learning through inquiry, reflection, action, and discovery - an approach that stems from the Quaker belief in Continuing Revelation. A simple concept, Continuing Revelation is a foundation upon which the Quaker faith rests. It is the belief that, rather than limit spiritual study to a fixed canon, learning should be an ongoing and never-ending process. Continuing Revelation thus calls Quaker educators and students to a life of ongoing, joy-filled discovery.

The daily impact of this philosophical grounding cannot be overstated. It informs the shape of curriculum, but more importantly, the way curriculum is delivered by faculty and embraced by students. Teachers are respectful and nurturing of students, and students are respectful of each other and their teachers.

Imagine a classroom where questioning and inquiry feed a sense of wonder and progress, where teachers acknowledge their own continuing growth, and discovery can be collaborative. The collegiality that emerges between “student” and “expert” is one important factor in shaping the powerful and unusual quality of student-teacher relationships at Friends’ Central School. In every grade, the curriculum asks that students stand up for what they believe and behave respectfully at school and when they are out in the world.

Friends’ Central teachers believe in and model a joy for learning. Almost a quarter of Upper School students participate in extensive, regular, not-for-credit study in our annual Science Core Team, Humanities Core Team, and STEAM, or Makerspace Studio. These are collaborative experiences; though guided by the teachers, the atmosphere is one in which the students and the teachers approach the work with equal desire for insight from one another.

At times, our teachers make the connections between curriculum and Quaker testimonies explicit. At other times, the connection is present but less explicit. In fact, it would be difficult to find a moment in daily life at school that has not somehow been affected by the Friends philosophy.

Lower School Campus Nursery - Grade 5
Address: 228 Old Gulph Road, Wynnewood, PA
Postal Code: 19096
phone: +1 610 6427575