Greenwood Friends School

Greenwood Friends School is kicking off our 1st Annual Greenwood Scholars Program! This is an ambitious new program aimed at attracting motivated, mission appropriate, new middle school students. The Greenwood Scholars Program offers generous ongoing merit scholarships to new students entering 5th through 8th grade for the 2010- 2011 school year.

Greenwood Friends School is able to provide individualized instruction in a multi-age setting in part because of our small class size. Class groups this year vary from 7 in Preprimary to 15 in our Primary Group to 17 in our Intermediate/Middle School class. When a group includes more than 12 students, a lead teacher and a part-time cooperative teacher work together to plan and facilitate learning experiences. In grades 1-7, students work in math groups of 5-7 students.

"We hope always to support our students in their development as truly honorable people—informed, engaged, and compassionate people, who come to positions on issues of consequence by active analysis and reflection, informed by a sense of respect for and responsibility toward others, in a spirit defined by neither arrogance nor apathy."
—Lisa Darling, Former Clerk, Friends Council on Education Board of Directors

Greenwood's vigorous, personalized curriculum supports and challenges every child, nurturing natural curiosity and encouraging academic excellence. The preschool through 8th grade students explore their world locally and globally. Greenwood encourages students to learn through innovation and collaboration, preparing them to succeed in our changing world.

Quaker testimonies and the Greenwood Friends School philosophy:

Quaker testimonies are general statements about Friends' practices and beliefs.  Our school's mission statement refers to several testimonies—integrity, equality, community, simplicity, and peace—which are reflected in our goal of providing a challenging and supportive environment.

You can learn more about Quaker education from the Friends Council on Education. The Friends Council offers links to other Quaker schools.

Quakers explain that Greenwood is “under the care of” of Millville Friends Meeting and the Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Our “care relationship” is evidenced in the structure of our school (our bylaws state that more than half of our Board of Directors must be Quaker representatives), in the regular patterns of our activities (once a month the entire school gathers at the Millville Meetinghouse for Meeting for Worship; annual graduation ceremonies are hosted there), and in the commitment of both Meetings to support the school’s educational mission with their corporate resources (annual Garden Tour proceeds benefit tuition assistance funds; members support classroom activities; the Millville Meeting housed our current Middle School during its first year).

On September 8, 2007, the gathered members of Millville Meeting passed the following Minute in affirmation of its support... 

To teach at Greenwood Friends School is to be planted in fertile soil. My first year at Greenwood sped by in a whirlwind of activity, with procedures and traditions to learn fresh, but I recognized immediately that I had found a place where I could use every bit of what I had learned in college and in previous teaching positions. Here I found a faculty committed to keeping up with the latest educational practices while staying loyal to the best of the tried and true. Here I found veteran teachers to offer guidance and advice. Here I found educators interested in designing and adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of the students – a true child-centered curriculum. I feel blessed to teach in an environment where academic standards are met through meaningful, hands-on, investigative learning, and where that learning happens across a rich curriculum that includes art, music, and physical education...