A new book, written and designed at Friends Select School, distills the very essence of Quaker values.  The title, Filling Our Classrooms with SPICES:  Practicing the Quaker Testimonies at Friends Select School, reflects the mnemonic device people often use to remember the six Quaker testimonies:  simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship.  The book offers lower school student interpretations of each testimony.  Read More

Education, at its best, is transformative.  We meet students where they are developmentally and push them along the educational continuum.  To do so, we teach them how to learn, equip them with knowledge, and expose them to a broad range of experience.  We help them begin to realize who and what they can become.  That is our most fundamental role as educators.

Parents and Friends  is electronic.  I hope you will find the e-newsletter medium as convenient, immediate, and vibrant as it is ecologically sound.  I join the guest authors whose columns occasionally will occupy this space in promising to do the very best we can to make our "e" messages helpful, provocative, and informative.  This month, I address that turning point of the year: the first day of school. Read More

My son played in eight baseball games on the weekends in July.  That should give you an idea of how I spent my summer before our annual family trip to Santa Fe.  I hope you also were happily engaged in your family activities. As always, I took a pile of books on vacation, including the all-school common reader, The View from the Oak; two books on political discourse; Nancie Atwell's The Reading Zone; and our faculty common reader, A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink. Read More

It is hard to contain my excitement about the new school year.  I have been so impressed with all that I have learned about the school over the summer; I am really looking forward to living out my first full year.  The warm welcome I received has helped me feel very comfortable, but I know there still will be many "firsts" as I settle into my new role as upper school director.  I look forward to using this column to share with you both my impressions of the division and also some broader views about education.  Read More

Middle and Upper School Families:

Please join us in welcoming Jesse Dougherty, new upper school director, at an informal  reception on Thursday, September 18 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. in the front lobby.

Welcome back! As Parent Association co-presidents, Jen Mansfield and I -- along withthe rest of the PA Board -- are looking forward to another school year!  Join us at the Welcome Back Party on the first day of school, Friday, September 5.  We'll all catch up with old friends, greet new families, watch our children dance and play with the DJ, and enjoy a picnic dinner.  PA board members will be wearing special name tags, so please introduce yourself if you don't know us already! 
Read More

 

Upper school athletes have been hard at work since mid-August, when the soccer, field hockey and cross country teams started pre-season practices.  All students who plan to play fall sports will meet briefly with their coaches on the first day of school (September 5) at 2:30 p.m.  Middle school practices begin on Monday, September 8.  Remember:  Students must submit their medical forms before they can participate in practices.  The fall sports schedules were mailed to families in mid-July.
Fall schedule