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Friends Select School is an independent, college-preparatory school with over 500 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Friends Select draws its identity from its Quaker heritage and beliefs and from its Center City location. Framed by this basic identity, the school provides a challenging academic program to a diverse, coed student population.

At the Center of Center City

Learning at Friends Select is an experience full of energy, creativity, and real-world connections. The school is situated squarely at the center of Philadelphia's government, museum and business districts.

Lower schoolers routinely take curriculum-connected trips to The Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Academy of Natural Sciences. Middle schoolers use the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology to research ancient cultures. Ninth graders study paintings and artifacts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and present their findings each spring at the museum. Juniors and seniors complete urban internships at research labs, architectural firms, theaters, museums, city offices, TV stations, and brokerage houses. In numerous ways, the city enriches the Friends Select experience, and Friends Select students grow as engaged and responsible citizens of the city.

Where Children Find Their Center

Friends Select students learn in an environment of integrity and warmth, where each person is known and respected as an individual. The school's Quaker identity, devoted faculty and respectful relationships create the foundation for a full and balanced learning experience. Quaker values central to the life of the school include the practice of peaceful resolution of conflict, service toward others, respect and inclusion. Among the manifestations of these values are a highly active program of community service, broad diversity within the school community, and a real sense of belonging on the part of students. This environment encourages children to take the risks true growth and learning require, and to celebrate being themselves.

At the Center of Learning

The Friends Select educational program creates meaningful learning--engaging children's critical and creative powers to investigate, connect, and express ideas. In the early years, children discover that to be a student means exploring one's world, asking questions, and finding answers. By the upper grades, a rich and rigorous curriculum has endowed students with the conceptual skills and confidence needed to meet the challenges of college.

A Friends Select education is notable for its continuity, which links concepts in each area of study from year to year, for its strong focus on scholarly research, writing, and oral presentation, and for the imagination and insight teachers demonstrate each day in shaping the classroom experience.