Princeton Friends School
Encyclopedia
Princeton Friends School (PFS) is an independent Quaker
day Kindergarten
-8th grade school in Princeton Township
, Mercer County
, New Jersey
, USA
. It is under the care of Princeton Monthly Meeting and located on the Meeting's historic property, adjacent to both the Institute for Advanced Study Woods and the Princeton Battlefield. The school is governed by a Board of Trustees who are appointed by the head of school and include members of the Religious Society of Friends, attenders of the Princeton Monthly Meeting, parents of students in the school, and members of the broader Princeton community.
The PFS mission is: "Drawing on a rich tradition of Quaker values and practices, Princeton Friends School is committed to creating a diverse, vibrant learning community in which young people engage their natural curiosity, discover and express their individual voices and gifts, acquire intellectual, physical, artistic, and life skills, and develop a sense of responsibility for themselves and others. Princeton Friends both prepares students for the world that is and models possibilities for the society that these young people will one day help to create."
Roots of PFS: "Princeton Friends School was founded in 1987 by a small group of progressive Quaker educators to bring Friends education to the greater Princeton area. At the heart of our school is the Quaker belief in a transcendent spirit – “that of God” – in everyone. For a school, this means an education focused on the “whole child,” fostering humanitarian as well as intellectual growth. Princeton Friends School now enrolls approximately 138 students in pre-K through grade 8, offering an exceptional, forward-thinking curriculum and a welcoming, diverse community. Princeton Friends School is accredited by the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and the National Association of Independent Schools. We are also a member of the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools."
Core Values of PFS: "There are three principles we live by every day at Princeton Friends School. They give our school its essential character and its lasting value. We call them our core values: Respect for All, Lifelong Learning, and Responsibility in the World. Practicing Respect for All, we honor the unique gifts of every individual, as we celebrate the diversity of human experience. Lifelong Learning reminds us that intellectual growth and discovery are the work of a lifetime. And Responsibility in the World speaks to our commitment to live in harmony with the beliefs that have guided Quakers for more than three centuries: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship.
In the tradition of Friends schools worldwide, Princeton Friends School expresses its core values through educational practice. We are committed to serving a wide range of children and supporting the educational needs of every individual. Our curriculum is organized to make such an approach possible, featuring course work that is hands-on, often collaborative, experiential, and a place for imagination and discovery to take flight.
At the heart of it all, is our Princeton Friends School community. Warm, open, and diverse, it models the ethical, civil, and globally aware behavior that our students carry into the world.
While many of these aspects of Princeton Friends’ program are outgrowths of the school’s Quaker roots, they are by no means exclusive to Quakerism. Indeed, Princeton Friends School reaches out to families from all religious and non-religious backgrounds and is instructed and enriched by their presence."
Diversity at PFS: "In a Friends school community such as ours, inclusiveness, diversity, and the welcoming of people from all walks of life is not only what we do, it’s who we are. Quaker thought embraces multiculturalism and the importance of getting to know others. In recent years, we have supported between one-quarter and one-third of our student body with tuition aid, by setting aside 13.5% of our operating budget for tuition assistance. In the 2010-11 school year, 22% of our students were of African, Asian, or Latino/a descent; 21% were born in other countries or are the children of those who have immigrated; and 7% came from Quaker families.
But numbers tell only a small part of the story. Our program and curriculum also reflect a global view, from our multicultural literature offerings to in-depth study of countries and cultures in our Central Study classes to instruction in both Spanish and Mandarin for all lower school students beginning in pre-K. Every day at PFS is enriched beyond measure by children and families who come from a wide and ever changing range of cultures, traditions, and loving family structures. To further our commitment to building community, parents, teachers, and administrators gather on a regular basis to share their personal stories and discuss school life in a group dedicated to issues of diversity at PFS called Mosaic."
PFS History: "In 1781, a small school was opened in what we now call the Schoolmaster’s House, on the 10-acre grounds of the Princeton Monthly Meeting. Contrary to the times, the little Quaker school was open to all, and students included children of slaves and Native Americans. A larger one-room schoolhouse, adjacent to the Meetinghouse, was built in 1800 and served the community for decades. After it fell into disrepair, the old schoolhouse was dismantled around 1900.
Almost 100 years later, Princeton Friends School was founded in 1987 by a small group of educators inspired by the ideals of both Friends education and progressive education. Renting space from Princeton Monthly Meeting, and later coming “under the care of” that meeting, the school opened with 19 students in 1st through 7th grades, two full-time teachers (Head of School Jane Fremon and Gale Whittier), and two part-time teachers (Assistant Head Nancy Wilson and PFS math teacher and advisor Richard Fischer). As the school gradually expanded over the following years, Princeton Monthly Meeting gave permission for the construction of a permanent home – the Schoolhouse – on the property.
In September 1997 the Schoolhouse opened its doors, providing for the school a central library, a large assembly space, faculty office space, and six classrooms. Portable classrooms in trailers that had for several years graced what is known as the school’s “back circle” were retired, and Princeton Friends School now had the space to serve its enrollment of 125 students.
Ten years later, West House, with its two primary classrooms, two science labs, a Learning Center, an art room, and a nurse’s office, opened its doors in September 2008. An outdoor hard-surface play court, an expanded playground, and a pair of outbuildings were also included in this project. In the coming years the campus plan will be completed with the renovation of the Schoolmaster’s House for administrative offices and the expansion of the Schoolhouse Great Room." Schoolhouse
Contact information:
Princeton Friends School
470 Quaker Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-683-1194 (phone)
609-252-0686 (fax)
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
day Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
-8th grade school in Princeton Township
Princeton Township, New Jersey
Also Princeton Borough is an independent municipality completely surrounded by the township.Princeton North is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Princeton Township....
, Mercer County
Mercer County, New Jersey
As of the census of 2000, there were 350,761 people, 125,807 households, and 86,303 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,552 people per square mile . There were 133,280 housing units at an average density of 590 per square mile...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is under the care of Princeton Monthly Meeting and located on the Meeting's historic property, adjacent to both the Institute for Advanced Study Woods and the Princeton Battlefield. The school is governed by a Board of Trustees who are appointed by the head of school and include members of the Religious Society of Friends, attenders of the Princeton Monthly Meeting, parents of students in the school, and members of the broader Princeton community.
The PFS mission is: "Drawing on a rich tradition of Quaker values and practices, Princeton Friends School is committed to creating a diverse, vibrant learning community in which young people engage their natural curiosity, discover and express their individual voices and gifts, acquire intellectual, physical, artistic, and life skills, and develop a sense of responsibility for themselves and others. Princeton Friends both prepares students for the world that is and models possibilities for the society that these young people will one day help to create."
Roots of PFS: "Princeton Friends School was founded in 1987 by a small group of progressive Quaker educators to bring Friends education to the greater Princeton area. At the heart of our school is the Quaker belief in a transcendent spirit – “that of God” – in everyone. For a school, this means an education focused on the “whole child,” fostering humanitarian as well as intellectual growth. Princeton Friends School now enrolls approximately 138 students in pre-K through grade 8, offering an exceptional, forward-thinking curriculum and a welcoming, diverse community. Princeton Friends School is accredited by the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and the National Association of Independent Schools. We are also a member of the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools."
Core Values of PFS: "There are three principles we live by every day at Princeton Friends School. They give our school its essential character and its lasting value. We call them our core values: Respect for All, Lifelong Learning, and Responsibility in the World. Practicing Respect for All, we honor the unique gifts of every individual, as we celebrate the diversity of human experience. Lifelong Learning reminds us that intellectual growth and discovery are the work of a lifetime. And Responsibility in the World speaks to our commitment to live in harmony with the beliefs that have guided Quakers for more than three centuries: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship.
In the tradition of Friends schools worldwide, Princeton Friends School expresses its core values through educational practice. We are committed to serving a wide range of children and supporting the educational needs of every individual. Our curriculum is organized to make such an approach possible, featuring course work that is hands-on, often collaborative, experiential, and a place for imagination and discovery to take flight.
At the heart of it all, is our Princeton Friends School community. Warm, open, and diverse, it models the ethical, civil, and globally aware behavior that our students carry into the world.
While many of these aspects of Princeton Friends’ program are outgrowths of the school’s Quaker roots, they are by no means exclusive to Quakerism. Indeed, Princeton Friends School reaches out to families from all religious and non-religious backgrounds and is instructed and enriched by their presence."
Diversity at PFS: "In a Friends school community such as ours, inclusiveness, diversity, and the welcoming of people from all walks of life is not only what we do, it’s who we are. Quaker thought embraces multiculturalism and the importance of getting to know others. In recent years, we have supported between one-quarter and one-third of our student body with tuition aid, by setting aside 13.5% of our operating budget for tuition assistance. In the 2010-11 school year, 22% of our students were of African, Asian, or Latino/a descent; 21% were born in other countries or are the children of those who have immigrated; and 7% came from Quaker families.
But numbers tell only a small part of the story. Our program and curriculum also reflect a global view, from our multicultural literature offerings to in-depth study of countries and cultures in our Central Study classes to instruction in both Spanish and Mandarin for all lower school students beginning in pre-K. Every day at PFS is enriched beyond measure by children and families who come from a wide and ever changing range of cultures, traditions, and loving family structures. To further our commitment to building community, parents, teachers, and administrators gather on a regular basis to share their personal stories and discuss school life in a group dedicated to issues of diversity at PFS called Mosaic."
PFS History: "In 1781, a small school was opened in what we now call the Schoolmaster’s House, on the 10-acre grounds of the Princeton Monthly Meeting. Contrary to the times, the little Quaker school was open to all, and students included children of slaves and Native Americans. A larger one-room schoolhouse, adjacent to the Meetinghouse, was built in 1800 and served the community for decades. After it fell into disrepair, the old schoolhouse was dismantled around 1900.
Almost 100 years later, Princeton Friends School was founded in 1987 by a small group of educators inspired by the ideals of both Friends education and progressive education. Renting space from Princeton Monthly Meeting, and later coming “under the care of” that meeting, the school opened with 19 students in 1st through 7th grades, two full-time teachers (Head of School Jane Fremon and Gale Whittier), and two part-time teachers (Assistant Head Nancy Wilson and PFS math teacher and advisor Richard Fischer). As the school gradually expanded over the following years, Princeton Monthly Meeting gave permission for the construction of a permanent home – the Schoolhouse – on the property.
In September 1997 the Schoolhouse opened its doors, providing for the school a central library, a large assembly space, faculty office space, and six classrooms. Portable classrooms in trailers that had for several years graced what is known as the school’s “back circle” were retired, and Princeton Friends School now had the space to serve its enrollment of 125 students.
Ten years later, West House, with its two primary classrooms, two science labs, a Learning Center, an art room, and a nurse’s office, opened its doors in September 2008. An outdoor hard-surface play court, an expanded playground, and a pair of outbuildings were also included in this project. In the coming years the campus plan will be completed with the renovation of the Schoolmaster’s House for administrative offices and the expansion of the Schoolhouse Great Room." Schoolhouse
Contact information:
Princeton Friends School
470 Quaker Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-683-1194 (phone)
609-252-0686 (fax)