Friends’ School is committed to educating the whole child. Our program is aimed at helping children explore and understand their world –with their heads, their hands, and their hearts. We want children to grow intellectually, physically, emotionally, and creatively.

In all areas we use children’s natural curiosity as the building block for a flexible yet structured curriculum that is of intrinsic interest to them, and at the same time stretches their abilities, and develops their respect for the accomplishments of others. Students work one on one, in small groups and as a whole class to solve problems, and to ensure everyone’s success. We place a balanced emphasis on process and content, depth and breadth, on learning how to learn, how to question, and how to see.

Because children in the elementary years develop at different rates, this curriculum guide indicates the grade levels at which general skills and concepts are introduced. These skills and concepts are reinforced and built upon as children move through the school, so that they are given both time and new opportunities to develop competencies.

We want children to be exposed to all these things in the hope that they will embrace and love learning as a lifelong pursuit. These skills and concepts are not taught in isolation. The richness of the Friends’ curriculum lies in the unique ways in which teachers present these skills to their students. They are enhanced through field trips, guest speakers, computers, art projects, and theater productions. In addition they are woven into thematic studies which rely on the interrelatedness of the disciplines.