Friends Academy is a coeducational, independent day school in Dartmouth, Massachusetts serving students in Early Childhood through Grade 8.
Our Mission
The mission of Friends Academy is to provide each student with an educational foundation that will instill the academic knowledge, skills, and understanding; responsible citizenship; respect for diversity and differences; and sense of well-being needed for a lifetime of learning and personal growth.
This mission is based on the beliefs that:
- Academic knowledge, skills, and understanding include the areas of English, mathematics, natural and social sciences, world languages, and the arts and the skills of reading, reasoning, computing, investigating, writing, speaking, problem-solving, and creating.
- Responsible citizenship includes honesty, commitment, and respect for others, the environment, and the community.
- Respect for diversity and differences involves building a community and creating programs and curriculum that are attentive to issues of learning, race, ethnicity, family configuration, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and economic status.
- A sense of well-being is nurtured through the development of self-esteem, self-confidence, and healthy social interactions.
We believe the goals of this mission are best met by:
- Achieving academic excellence by challenging students at an appropriate level.
- Nurturing development within a school community environment.
- Stimulating curiosity and desire to learn.
- Offering a wide range of individual and collaborative learning activities.
- Providing opportunities for service to others.
- Working in partnership with families.
Accomplishing the mission of Friends Academy is the shared responsibility of the whole school community. For that reason, Friends expects of students, teachers, staff, trustees, and families a dedication to academic excellence, a willingness to work energetically and cooperatively toward common goals in all activities, a respect both for themselves and for the individual differences of others, and a determination to reach beyond merely comfortable limits of knowledge and experience.
Philosophy of Teaching and Learning
Friends Academy is a child-centered school that emphasizes a balanced approach to developing the intellectual, social, physical, and artistic growth in each child. We offer a rigorous, progressive education, which embraces a culture of diverse learning and expression, honoring each member’s unique contribution to the larger community.
Lower School provides an education rooted in solid academics defined by active, experimental, inquiry-based learning. Middle School builds upon this foundation to support the developmental growth and independence of our adolescence. Our teachers cultivate joyful, informed, inspired learners equipped with the ability and inclination to be courageous, empathetic, and reflective citizens of their community.
The FA Bees
In order to breathe meaning into these core values, Friends Academy asks students, faculty, and staff to practice the FA Bees. In this way, everyone is expected to “let your life speak,” a phrase the Quakers who founded Friends Academy in 1810 might well have used.