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- Germantown Academy, a non-sectarian, independent, coeducational college preparatory school, educates students from PreK to Grade 12 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1759, GA boasts more than 255 years of history and tradition. At GA, we inspire our students each day to live our school's mission: to become independent, confident, compassionate, collaborative, and honorable individuals who will make a difference in our world. Our young scholars blossom in a community of caring adults who know them as people first. We teach them to seek genuine understanding and treat others as they wish to be treated and guided by their hearts as they pursue a life of the mind. As much as we challenge them with compelling and rigorous academics, we also challenge them to embody goodness, to embrace the character, and to give of themselves generously so that they may become knowledgeable, ethical leaders who advocate for themselves, for what is right, for each other, and others. For more than 250 years, we have strived to bring out the best in our students, and our proud alumni/ae, leaders in their own right around the world, are living proof that our mission works. With an ideal mix of independent school excellence and creative, innovative thinking and practice, GA opens doors to new interests and opportunities, lifelong relationships, and a stellar education. In the end, however, we teach our students to find and open their doors, to stride through them confidently, to hold them wide open for others. Around every corner of our school, you will see children in the process of becoming, exploring, questioning, wondering, and growing in profound, meaningful ways – often in directions, you may never have predicted had they not immersed themselves in the experiences awaiting them in our classrooms and outdoor learning spaces, on our fields and our stages. Our 126-acre campus affords us the resources necessary to help students become their best selves. There is no better way to get to know the real GA than to stroll our buzzing hallways, engage in a fascinating conversation with a student, and observe one of our passionate master teachers in the classroom. We enthusiastically invite you to see and feel it for yourself, to experience GA, and to give us the chance to get to know your family so that, together, we can discover how our school community might best enable your child to thrive truly. A leadership mindset begins with each student having the independence of thought necessary to seek and find the truth in all that they read, see, and hear. We educate GA students to be curious, ask questions, and listen to and evaluate others' viewpoints. Our faculty and staff are the guides and coaches for these explorations of ideas, theories, and processes. Independent thinkers become self-confident individuals. Teachers and staff members hear expressed time and time again by prospective parents how confidently GA students comport themselves. Our writing, speaking and performing arts curricula aim to instill confidence in all of our students. Alumni visits around the country remind us that the core of confidence built during GA years holds firm throughout adulthood. While Germantown Academy teachers have engaged our students for over 255 years, our motivations and methods for seeking engagement have evolved dramatically since our founding. Teachers and students now have equal, instant access to facts and content. While faculty are no longer in sole possession of the keys necessary to unlock the world of knowledge, gifted ones are still indispensable in drawing our children toward that world. The faculty demonstrate a genuine love of learning with and from their charges. This is 21st-century engagement. In a century that prizes innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and invention, engaging students is undoubtedly urgent work not just as a means to a future, triumphant end. It creates instant advantages in the lives of our students. The data at GA and across an impressive range of American schools reveals that genuinely engaged students are healthier, happier human beings. GA is not on the engagement bandwagon our teachers are leading the way. We are engagement trailblazers. By encouraging our students to pursue their passions and to express their voices in what they want - or better yet need - to learn, we seek to create a generation of learners who will strive to do what they love because they love what they do. Together, our students and faculty actively defined engagement's critical components, which appear to the right. Inspiring this thriving community of engaged learners is how we will best fulfill our lofty mission. We will prepare our students to engage in the world around them and, best of all, to lead happy, healthy lives where they are the authors of their own, genuine, self-determined success. View full school
- "Learning is for life" This idea is at the heart of Germantown Friends School. We view the years from Kindergarten through twelfth grade as just one chapter in an extended adventure—a learning adventure that is one of the great foundations of life. Our sense of the power and value of education defines our daily work. We teach our students that the world is theirs to experience, understand, create, and change. It is a lesson they take to heart. At GFS, our philosophy of education and our mission go hand-in-hand. We believe that each individual has "that of God within" and that the search for and celebration of each student's Inner Light extends well beyond our campus—and long after graduation. We view the arts, community involvement, social justice, the life of the mind, the care of the body, and the inclusion of distinct voices and perspectives integral to our mission. At GFS, we do not preach our beliefs and values; we practice them. There are countless reasons why Germantown Friends School is recognized as a truly exceptional independent Quaker school, why it is cherished by the community, and why it remains inimitable. When you begin with the belief that each person has a unique inner light, great things can happen. At GFS, we discover and nurture a multitude of hidden talents. We teach each child to speak his or her mind and make sure every voice is heard. We believe the community is built on a foundation of mutual respect. Germantown Friends School is dedicated to reaching that of God in every person. Our mission is to seek the truth, challenge the intellect, honor differences, embrace the city, and nurture each student's mind, body, and spirit. The School Committee, which is composed of members of the Germantown Monthly Meeting, alumni, parents, faculty, and former parents, sets policies for Germantown Friends School and makes decisions regarding guiding principles, direction and priorities. The School Committee approved the following Statement of Philosophy. We are a Friends school, under the care of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, founded on the belief that there is God in everyone. Together, love and respect for each individual provide the premise for all that we do. We regard education not as training for a particular way of life but as part of a lifelong process. As we guide and encourage our students in their personal growth, we try to cultivate and support the principles that Friends have long considered to have lasting value. Among these are truthfulness, simplicity, self-discipline, the resolution of differences without violence, and respect for diverse heritages and experiences. Underlying all these commitments are unreserved respect for each person's capacity to find a path to God, as well as for conscience and the need to follow its dictates. Our regard for a leading of conscience is reflected in our weekly Meeting for Worship, based on silence, where each may speak when moved to speak. Meeting remains central to the life of the school. We want our students to develop the capacity for a responsible choice. Through our varied curriculum – rich in the academic disciplines, in the creative and performing arts, and athletics and activities – our students come to understand their strengths and limitations, learning to integrate their aspirations with the claims and values of others. For this, they not only need facts about the world; they must know how to find and assess those facts. They must learn to distinguish the genuine from the artificial, the essential from the peripheral. They must learn to think clearly and to communicate and act upon what they know. To act responsibly, they must know themselves and value themselves and others. We challenge them increasingly as they can exercise choice in many areas of school and community life. We hope that in each of our students, as in ourselves, a sense of commitment to all their communities will grow from a responsible role in this one. We encourage all members of this community to develop their capacities to the fullest extent possible. In academics, in athletics, in the arts, and human relations, we value this excellence, recognize it, encourage it, and stress our obligation to share it. Knowing as well that learning works by example, we look for excellence in each other and ourselves. This search keeps us striving. View full school
Germantown Academy, a non-sectarian, independent, coeducational college preparatory school, educates students from PreK to Grade 12 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1759, GA boasts more than 255 years of history and tradition. At GA, we inspire our students each day to live our school's mission: to become independent, confident, compassionate, collaborative, and honorable individuals who will make a difference in our world. Our young scholars blossom in a community of caring adults who know them as people first. We teach them to seek genuine understanding and treat others as they wish to be treated and guided by their hearts as they pursue a life of the mind. As much as we challenge them with compelling and rigorous academics, we also challenge them to embody goodness, to embrace the character, and to give of themselves generously so that they may become knowledgeable, ethical leaders who advocate for themselves, for what is right, for each other, and others. For more than 250 years, we have strived to bring out the best in our students, and our proud alumni/ae, leaders in their own right around the world, are living proof that our mission works. With an ideal mix of independent school excellence and creative, innovative thinking and practice, GA opens doors to new interests and opportunities, lifelong relationships, and a stellar education. In the end, however, we teach our students to find and open their doors, to stride through them confidently, to hold them wide open for others. Around every corner of our school, you will see children in the process of becoming, exploring, questioning, wondering, and growing in profound, meaningful ways – often in directions, you may never have predicted had they not immersed themselves in the experiences awaiting them in our classrooms and outdoor learning spaces, on our fields and our stages. Our 126-acre campus affords us the resources necessary to help students become their best selves. There is no better way to get to know the real GA than to stroll our buzzing hallways, engage in a fascinating conversation with a student, and observe one of our passionate master teachers in the classroom. We enthusiastically invite you to see and feel it for yourself, to experience GA, and to give us the chance to get to know your family so that, together, we can discover how our school community might best enable your child to thrive truly. A leadership mindset begins with each student having the independence of thought necessary to seek and find the truth in all that they read, see, and hear. We educate GA students to be curious, ask questions, and listen to and evaluate others' viewpoints. Our faculty and staff are the guides and coaches for these explorations of ideas, theories, and processes. Independent thinkers become self-confident individuals. Teachers and staff members hear expressed time and time again by prospective parents how confidently GA students comport themselves. Our writing, speaking and performing arts curricula aim to instill confidence in all of our students. Alumni visits around the country remind us that the core of confidence built during GA years holds firm throughout adulthood. While Germantown Academy teachers have engaged our students for over 255 years, our motivations and methods for seeking engagement have evolved dramatically since our founding. Teachers and students now have equal, instant access to facts and content. While faculty are no longer in sole possession of the keys necessary to unlock the world of knowledge, gifted ones are still indispensable in drawing our children toward that world. The faculty demonstrate a genuine love of learning with and from their charges. This is 21st-century engagement. In a century that prizes innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and invention, engaging students is undoubtedly urgent work not just as a means to a future, triumphant end. It creates instant advantages in the lives of our students. The data at GA and across an impressive range of American schools reveals that genuinely engaged students are healthier, happier human beings. GA is not on the engagement bandwagon our teachers are leading the way. We are engagement trailblazers. By encouraging our students to pursue their passions and to express their voices in what they want - or better yet need - to learn, we seek to create a generation of learners who will strive to do what they love because they love what they do. Together, our students and faculty actively defined engagement's critical components, which appear to the right. Inspiring this thriving community of engaged learners is how we will best fulfill our lofty mission. We will prepare our students to engage in the world around them and, best of all, to lead happy, healthy lives where they are the authors of their own, genuine, self-determined success.
"Learning is for life" This idea is at the heart of Germantown Friends School. We view the years from Kindergarten through twelfth grade as just one chapter in an extended adventure—a learning adventure that is one of the great foundations of life. Our sense of the power and value of education defines our daily work. We teach our students that the world is theirs to experience, understand, create, and change. It is a lesson they take to heart. At GFS, our philosophy of education and our mission go hand-in-hand. We believe that each individual has "that of God within" and that the search for and celebration of each student's Inner Light extends well beyond our campus—and long after graduation. We view the arts, community involvement, social justice, the life of the mind, the care of the body, and the inclusion of distinct voices and perspectives integral to our mission. At GFS, we do not preach our beliefs and values; we practice them. There are countless reasons why Germantown Friends School is recognized as a truly exceptional independent Quaker school, why it is cherished by the community, and why it remains inimitable. When you begin with the belief that each person has a unique inner light, great things can happen. At GFS, we discover and nurture a multitude of hidden talents. We teach each child to speak his or her mind and make sure every voice is heard. We believe the community is built on a foundation of mutual respect. Germantown Friends School is dedicated to reaching that of God in every person. Our mission is to seek the truth, challenge the intellect, honor differences, embrace the city, and nurture each student's mind, body, and spirit. The School Committee, which is composed of members of the Germantown Monthly Meeting, alumni, parents, faculty, and former parents, sets policies for Germantown Friends School and makes decisions regarding guiding principles, direction and priorities. The School Committee approved the following Statement of Philosophy. We are a Friends school, under the care of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, founded on the belief that there is God in everyone. Together, love and respect for each individual provide the premise for all that we do. We regard education not as training for a particular way of life but as part of a lifelong process. As we guide and encourage our students in their personal growth, we try to cultivate and support the principles that Friends have long considered to have lasting value. Among these are truthfulness, simplicity, self-discipline, the resolution of differences without violence, and respect for diverse heritages and experiences. Underlying all these commitments are unreserved respect for each person's capacity to find a path to God, as well as for conscience and the need to follow its dictates. Our regard for a leading of conscience is reflected in our weekly Meeting for Worship, based on silence, where each may speak when moved to speak. Meeting remains central to the life of the school. We want our students to develop the capacity for a responsible choice. Through our varied curriculum – rich in the academic disciplines, in the creative and performing arts, and athletics and activities – our students come to understand their strengths and limitations, learning to integrate their aspirations with the claims and values of others. For this, they not only need facts about the world; they must know how to find and assess those facts. They must learn to distinguish the genuine from the artificial, the essential from the peripheral. They must learn to think clearly and to communicate and act upon what they know. To act responsibly, they must know themselves and value themselves and others. We challenge them increasingly as they can exercise choice in many areas of school and community life. We hope that in each of our students, as in ourselves, a sense of commitment to all their communities will grow from a responsible role in this one. We encourage all members of this community to develop their capacities to the fullest extent possible. In academics, in athletics, in the arts, and human relations, we value this excellence, recognize it, encourage it, and stress our obligation to share it. Knowing as well that learning works by example, we look for excellence in each other and ourselves. This search keeps us striving.
