Friends' Central School

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Quaker school in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, US

title: "Friends' Central School" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1845-establishments-in-pennsylvania", "educational-institutions-established-in-1845", "lower-merion-township,-pennsylvania", "private-high-schools-in-pennsylvania", "quaker-schools-in-pennsylvania", "private-elementary-schools-in-pennsylvania", "private-middle-schools-in-pennsylvania", "schools-in-montgomery-county,-pennsylvania", "wynnewood,-pennsylvania"] description: "Quaker school in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, US" topic_path: "society/education" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends'_Central_School" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Quaker school in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, US ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox school"]

FieldValue
nameFriends' Central School
seal_imageFCS seal.jpg
address1101 City Ave
townWynnewood
statePennsylvania
zipcode19096-3490
countryUnited States
coordinates
other_name
former_name
typeIndependent, day, college preparatory
religious_affiliationChristianity
denominationQuakers
established
founder
statusOpen
closed
educational_authority
category
oversight
specialist
us_nces_school_id
chair
chairman
chairperson
principal
head_of_schoolBeth D. Johnson
head_teacher
head
r_head
faculty116
gradesN–12
years_taught
genderCoeducational
age_range
lower_age
upper_age
enrollment848
enrollment_as_of2023-2024
grade_preK57
gradeK34
grade126
grade231
grade335
grade446
grade538
grade650
grade763
grade868
grade999
grade10107
grade11107
grade1287
other
ratio8.5:1
campus_typeSuburban
student_union
athletics_conferenceFriends Schools League
colorsNavy
White
Gray
nicknamePhoenix
teams
rival
accreditation
test_nameSAT
test_average649 Math
669 Verbal
666 Writing
annual_tuition$28,500-$49,950
affiliation
nobel_laureatesKarl Barry Sharpless
information
website
pictureFriends Central.jpg
::

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Friends' Central School (FCS) is a Quaker, independent, coeducational, college-preparatory day school for students in Nursery though grade 12. It is located on 41 acres across two campuses in Wynnewood, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The school was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia, near the current location of the Philadelphia Mint. It had an enrollment of 848 students from nursery to grade 12 in 2023.

Informally known as "Friends' Central," the school encompasses three divisions: Lower School (nursery through 5th grades), Middle School (6th through 8th), and Upper School (9th through 12th). The Middle and Upper Schools share their campus, and the Lower School occupies its own site.

History

19th century

Friends' Central School was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia at 4th Street and Cherry Street, serving as an upper school for the Quaker primary schools with grades 7 through 12. In 1857, the school moved to 15th and Race Street, remaining at this location until 1925, when it moved to its current campus on City Avenue, formerly the Wistar Morris Estate. The main house of the estate, constructed in 1862, remains and serves as the administrative building of the school and an architectural focal point of the campus.

20th century

In 1988, due to the growth of the student body, Friends' Central acquired the Montgomery School's property and relocated the lower school there.

21st century

In 2000, the Shimada Athletic Center was constructed. In 2003, the Fannie Cox Center for Science, Math, and Technology was completed and opened.

In 2011, David Felsen retired after 23 years of service as headmaster; beginning in the 2012 school year, Craig Sellers was named Head of School.

On July 1, 2021, Beth D. Johnson, '77, was named interim Head of School. On February 17, 2022, Beth Johnson was unanimously named the 12th official head of Friends Central.

In 2022, Friends’ Central converted the former Rex Gymnasium into Phase I of the school's new Center for Innovation and Design (CID). Construction of Phase II of the CID began in January 2024, and the brand new, fully completed CID was finished in October 2024.

Curriculum

Friends' Central School students achieved the highest average SAT scores in all three sections (Math, Verbal, and Writing) of the 19 schools that had scores reported in Suburban Life Magazine's 2010 report on suburban Philadelphia private high schools. The scores were 649 in Math, 669 in Verbal, and 666 in Writing. This report also indicated that Friends' Central had a student-faculty ratio of 9:1, yearly high school tuition of $25,400 and that 100% of the 93 students in the senior class went on to a four-year college.

Quaker values such as community, service, equality, and integrity are all incorporated into student life. All students attend a weekly Meeting for Worship on Wednesdays for 40 minutes, sharing messages when "moved to speak". The community convenes in one room in silence, and individuals stand when expressing thoughts to the community. Students are also required to perform off-campus service for mandatory hours. In the middle and upper school, students must take three courses concerning the history of the Society of Friends and the central philosophies of Quakerism from a non-religious perspective.

In middle school, 5th and 6th graders learn the history and faith of Quakerism, and the 9th-grade course further explores the Quaker faith and practice, focusing on a deeper understanding of the religion's history and its testimonies. 11th and 12th graders may take additional study in the origin and philosophy of religion in general.

Athletics

Friends' Central has strong baseball, swimming, girls' track, boys' tennis, basketball, and wrestling programs. From 2009 to 2012, Friends' Central won four consecutive Pennsylvania Independent Schools Boys' Basketball Championships.

Notable alumni

References

References

  1. (2022–2023). "Affording FCS". Friends' Central School.
  2. "Friends' Central School - N-12 Quaker School - Philadelphia".
  3. "[http://www.lowermerion.org/archive/osp/osp_tabA.html#muniloc Community Profile] {{webarchive. link. (2015-02-02 ." [[Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania). Lower Merion Township]]. Retrieved on April 30, 2014. (contains maps of Lower Merion).
  4. "The First 300: The Amazing and Rich History of Lower Merion (Part 16)".
  5. "Friends' Central School ~ About Friends' Central".
  6. "Friends' Central School ~ David M. Felsen Announces His Retirement".
  7. "Friends' Central School ~ Our 11th Head of School".
  8. "New Interim Head of Friends' Central Beth D. Johnson '77".
  9. "Private High Schools: 2010 Report Card".
  10. "History Curriculum - Upper School {{!}} Friends Central School".
  11. "Friends' Central School ~ Three-peat Basketball Champions!".
  12. "Friends' Central dunks Malvern Prep in Pennsylvania Independent Schools basketball tourney final".
  13. Greg Heller, ''Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia. ''(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013) p.17
  14. Homer, William Innes. (January 2011). "William T. Innes: The Aquarium Life".
  15. (1992). "National French Contest (Le Grand Concours)". The French Review.
  16. "Alum Destined for The Great White Way!". Friends' Central School.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1845-establishments-in-pennsylvaniaeducational-institutions-established-in-1845lower-merion-township,-pennsylvaniaprivate-high-schools-in-pennsylvaniaquaker-schools-in-pennsylvaniaprivate-elementary-schools-in-pennsylvaniaprivate-middle-schools-in-pennsylvaniaschools-in-montgomery-county,-pennsylvaniawynnewood,-pennsylvania