Friends Community School

[Anonymous]

A neighbor who doesn't read DCUM (gasp!) is searching for feedback on Friends Community School in College Park. Any information would be helpful. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi! My son is in first grade at FCS -- started last year in K and has been very very happy there. My husband and I love it -- great teachers, philosophy about learning and helping kids develop, location, green building. It's a great school. Would be happy to provide more info, if there's any way to take off-line. I'd recommend going to see the school and get a feel for it. Really, we can't imagine where he/we would be happier.

[Anonymous]

Realizing there's no off-line way to expand on my info about Friends Community School above, I am adding to my own posting! A few other useful pieces of concrete info: FCS is K-8, about 185 kids, quite diverse ethnically and economically (committed to this). Classes are quite small (kindergarten maxes at 12, and the other classes are combined 1/2, 3/4, etc. and have about 16-7 kids in each). My son's teachers have been very good at tailoring their approach to a range of kid abilities. There's a new head of school as of this past summer who seems wonderful. The school emphasizes community service and Quaker values. It is affiliated with the Adelphi (MD) meeting. Although my husband and I are not religious we really appreciate the attention the teachers/school pay to Quaker values, equality and respect, helping kids learn to resolve conflict peacefully, etc. We listen to my 6 year old son dealing with conflicts with his friends and they really seem to have learned to talk things through and work them out well (for 6 year olds!). In the curriculum, there's a strong emphasis on writing, math, reading, also kids have science, social studies, Spanish, art, music, and PE from kindergarten on up. The approach to teaching is progressive -- kids there seem genuinely excited about learning without the anxiety that too often seems to go with school. Experiential learning is a big part of the approach -- lots of field trips, an annual camping trip. Physically, the new green school is lovely -- big windows, lots of light, open spaces. Lots of time for kids to be outside -- the school abuts a national park (Greenbelt national park). Recent afterschool activities have included soccer, instrumental music, chess, pottery, ice skating. On logistics -- it is much closer to DC than many people realize and is also quite close to the College Park Metro station, which has ample parking (we live in Montgomery County, drop the kids at school, park at the metro and go into work in DC, and then get the kids and come home, which has all become very routine). There is an extended day program that provides care both before school, and after school until 6 (as well as during many school vacations), and can be used as needed (rather than needing to commit to certain time slots). The school also runs a science and art camp in the summer that my son has done for 2 summers and really enjoyed. The website is www.friendscommunityschool.org and there are a couple more open houses in January. My husband and I have become real fans of the school. It's a lovely community for kids, our son has learned a lot very happily, and tuition is very reasonable for an area private school (less than half of Sidwell).