Type Private, All-Girl Religious affiliation(s) Nonsectarian Head of School Marisa Porges | Motto Disce Verum Laborem Established 1888 | |
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Faculty 73 full-time, 11 part-time | ||
The Baldwin School is an American all-girls independent school located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia. Founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin, it now consists of a Lower, Middle and Upper School totaling approximately 570 in enrollment.
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The school occupies a 19th-century resort hotel designed by Victorian architect Frank Furness, a landmark of the Philadelphia Main Line. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 27, 1979.
History
In 1888, Miss Florence Baldwin founded "Miss Baldwin's School for Girls, Preparatory for Bryn Mawr College" in her mother's house at the corner of Montgomery and Morris Avenues in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The first class was composed of thirteen girls.
The second Bryn Mawr Hotel was designed by Furness, Evans & Company and built in 1890-91. It is a five-story, "L" shaped stone-and-brick building in a Renaissance Revival / Châteauesque style. It features a large semi-circular section at the main entrance, topped by a conical roof and finial. It has a steeply pitched red roof with a variety of dormers, chimneys, towers, finials, and skylights.
In 1896, The Baldwin School began leasing the Bryn Mawr Hotel during the winter months, then year-round in 1912. In 1922, the school purchased the building and the surrounding 25 acres (100,000 m2) for $240,000.
Today the school has added many additions but still manages to maintain the elegance and grandeur of the original building. The original building is known as "The Residence," and formerly served as dormitories for boarding students. It is now home to the dining hall, art studio, apartments for faculty and staff, music classes, and an Early Childhood Center, with renovations completed in 2014 specifically for the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes. A two-story science building opened in 1961 and was enlarged in 1995 to accommodate the increasing number of students. The Upper and Middle Schools inhabit the three-story Schoolhouse, which was built in 1926 and renovated in 1997. Grades 1-5 are housed in the Lower School building which was completed in 1974.
The school formally opened a new athletic center in 2008. The new building has a six-lane swimming pool, gymnasium, three-lane jogging track, 4 squash courts, fitness center and multipurpose meeting/activity space. It is accompanied by a five tennis courts and a practice field.
Scholarships
$2.8 million in scholarships is distributed annually to 28% of the students. The average grant awarded was $18,261.
Student body
Students of color represent 40% of the student body. The Baldwin School is not religiously associated.
Academics
Twenty six percent of the Class of 2014 went on to attend Ivy league institutions. Twenty seven percent of the Class of 2015 was recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program.
Baldwin has a high percentage of graduates majoring and working in math and science fields, about 1/3 greater than the national average for women. In 2014, 28% of the graduates pursued a degree in science and engineering.
Arts
Music
Baldwin's music education begins in the Lower School. Students receive twice weekly music classes and sing in weekly choruses in Grades 3-5. Students perform in musical plays once a year. In Middle School, chorus, orchestra and classes in guitar and hand bell care available. In Upper School, ensembles include a jazz band, classical chamber music ensemble Firenze, two hand bell choirs, chorus, select a cappella vocal ensemble Baldwin B-Flats, select singing ensemble Eliza-B-thans and an orchestra. Each ensemble is featured during multiple evening concerts throughout the year.
The Middle School Chorus participates annually in the Music in the Parks competition at Hershey Park in May. At the 2014 competition, the Middle School Chorus received a Superior rating and the Best Overall Middle School Chorus trophy for their performances. Every three years, the Upper School ensembles take a week and a half performance tour to a destination abroad. Past destinations include Vienna, Austria, Tuscany, Italy, Budapest, Hungary, Stockholm, Sweden, Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Baldwin Conservatory offers weekly private instruction on piano, voice, violin, viola, flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, trumpet, trombone, guitar, ukulele, banjo and harp. The Baldwin Conservatory has had many accomplished musicians as faculty including pianist and composer Jean Paul Kürsteiner.
Theater In 2016, Eighth grader Libby Ronon was named a first place winner in the 2016 Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival. Libby studied play writing during fall of 2015 in the 7th grade drama class with MS drama teacher, Aileen McCulloch. The 36-page play, titled "Your Choice," is about a boy dealing with his own unique disorder, the inability to make up his mind. The play will have a January 2017 production mounted by PYPF.
In 2014, Eighth grader Kit Conklin was named a first place winner in the 2015 Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival. Kit studied play writing during fall of 2014 in the 7th grade drama class with MS drama teacher, Aileen McCulloch. The play, B&E focuses on two people who are able to change the way people behave. The play was produced by the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival during the fall of 2015.
The 2015 musical comedy, "Into the Woods' received four CAPPIE nominations. Emily Thompson '18 who took home the award for Best Underclassman Critic.
The 2013 drama production “Laughter and Cake” received CAPPIE nominations for best play, creativity (playwriting), featured actor, comic actress in a play and supporting actress in a play. The Upper School Maskers Club supports the theater through ushering and advertising.
The 2014 drama production "Chamber Music" (directed by Cynthia Angst) received seven CAPPIE nominations for Best Play, Best Ensemble, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actress in a Comedic Role, Best Actress, Best Costumes, and Best Featured Actress. Of those nominations, they won Best Supporting Actress (Jane Bradley '17) and Best Actress in a Comedic Role (Alexa Kent '16).
In the 2013-14 school year:
Visual Art
Baldwin offers lessons in ceramics, computer graphics, photography, jewelry making, painting and sculpture. The School's Rembrandt antique-style etching press was restored during the 2013-14 school year and used extensively for Middle School and Upper School Art Exhibition student works. 2013-14 Upper School students had their work displayed in the Tyler School of Art's "Clay Programs of Excellence" and the After-School Enrichment Ceramics classes displayed their work at Bryn Mawr's Ludington Memorial Library.
Athletics
The Baldwin School competes in the Inter-Academic League, most commonly known as the Inter-Ac. Interscholastic varsity sports are: Basketball, Cross-Country, Field Hockey, Golf, Lacrosse, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Squash, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Volleyball, and Indoor Track. Dance is also offered, and students also have the option of Independent PE if they are seriously committed to a sport outside of school such as fencing or ice skating.
Six members of the Class of 2014 continued their respective athletic careers at the collegiate level including varsity swimming at Connecticut College and Columbia University, varsity squash at Yale University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Drexel University and varsity tennis at the US Naval Academy.
The Baldwin School's recently built athletic center features an indoor track, swimming pool, fitness center, dance studio, squash courts, and basketball court. The building features solar reflective roofing, regionally sourced materials, Energy Star equipment and appliances, and an indoor air quality management system.