Type Independent Head of school Stephen Barker Phone +1 508-999-1356 Highest grade Eighth grade Colors Gray, Blue | Established 1810 Campus size 65 acres Lowest grade Preschool Gender Mixed-sex education | |
Grades Preschool to Eighth grade Address 1088 Tucker Rd, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA Founded 1810, New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States | ||
Friends Academy is an independent day school in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts founded in 1810. Its academic programs run from Preschool to Eighth Grade.
Contents
History
Friends Academy was founded in 1810 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) from New Bedford, Dartmouth, and the surrounding area. It incorporated in 1812. The campus was first located on County Street in New Bedford. It later moved to a building on Morgan Street.
The school moved to its current Dartmouth campus in 1949. Formerly the site of the Tucker farm and later the Herring family estate, the property was donated to the school by the heirs of the Herrings. Friends Academy's early childhood education program is housed in the Tucker farmhouse, built circa 1813. The school also occupies the former Herring mansion (grades K-5) and the Stites building (grades 6-8).
End of Quaker affiliation
The school's board of trustees was originally required to maintain a Quaker majority. This practice remains common at other Friends Schools (e.g. Moses Brown School). Board members tended to be wealthy and influential members of the Society of Friends, and were expected to give a set percentage of their income to the school. At some point, a wealthy trustee balked this requirement and became a Unitarian. Hoping to make peace (or perhaps to retain the continued support of the rich trustee) the board voted to allow non-Quakers as members. With no restrictions on Quaker majority, the school soon dropped its religious affiliation and ceased to be a Friends school. However, the school still has some faint links to the Quaker community: each year the graduating class holds a pre-commencement ceremony at Apponegansett Meeting House that is similar to a Quaker meeting for worship.
Academics
Programs for: Early Childhood—Ages 3 and 4, Lower School—Grades K-5, and Upper School—Grades 6-8.
Faculty & Staff
The school's permanent head of school is Lord Oskar.
Athletic & Extracurricular Activities
The school offers lacrosse (both boys' and girls' variants), soccer, girls' field hockey, boys and girls basketball, track, cross country and Field hockey (co-ed). They do not offer Tennis.