Our Philosophy

Friends Western School rests in the foundation provided by the Quaker belief that there is an inner light in each of us. This idea inspires the ethos of support, encouragement, respect and kindness that is evident at Friends Western. We seek diversity and welcome families of all faiths and no faith. 

What does it mean to be a Quaker school?

It means that we are committed to the Quaker principles of peace, simplicity, integrity, community and equality. Friends Schools have a long history of combining hands-on, participatory learning with the gaining of practical knowledge. Believing that children learn best in an environment that promotes both industry and ingenuity we encourage learning through inquiry, reflection and action.

There are 81 Friends Schools in the United States as recognized by the Friends Council on Education and we are honored to be one of them.

STRUCTURE

- FWS is operated by parents and teachers. 
- Our community is run by committees and each committee is led by a chair. 
- Oversight for operations of the school is provided by a governing board that is nominated from, made up of and elected by the membership. 
- FWS has four teachers, two teacher's aides and four specialty teachers. A teacher's aide  works in all the classrooms and on the yard.  Art, music and yoga are part of our regular curriculum and are taught by specialty teachers. FWS utilizes an educational consultant that supports our faculty. 
- Parents work to support the school by serving on and doing the work of our committees, chaperoning or driving on field trips and hikes, hosting community lunches, running weekly enrichment clubs for children or choosing a dedicated job at the school such as being in charge of the website or sorting mail and routing messages. No one parent does all the jobs listed but selects, with the aid of the volunteer coordinator, the job that best suits them and to which they can bring their expertise.

• Committee Membership—Serve on one of the following committees: Fundraising, Marketing, Admissions, Governance, Site, Student Services or Finance .

• Membership Meetings—Attendance by one parent per family to our monthly Membership Meetings (10 per year)

• Work Days—Participation on site work days held on Saturdays once a term (3 times a year)

•  Fundraising–-All families are considered part of our fundraising team and we ask that each family contribute to our annual fund as well as participate in our fundraising events (1 per year). Read more about donating to and raising funds for FWS.

• Online Group Communication–FWS parents and teachers communicate via an online message group. This is the main form of communicating school-related information outside of the Membership Meetings, on a day-to-day basis, and we require one or both parents to register.