Our Distinguished Speaker Series continues to offer engaging and thought-provoking programs featuring a diverse range of speakers. These events are designed to broaden students’ perspectives and deepen their understanding of varied lived experiences, identities and backgrounds. We also welcome alumni, parents and friends of the school who are interested in attending a particular presentation, subject to availability.

During two spring breaks, students had the opportunity to travel to Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, Alabama for a powerful and immersive civil rights learning experience. Over the course of the trip, participants visited historic landmarks, museums and community institutions that bring the Civil Rights Movement to life through stories, artifacts and firsthand perspectives. Guided discussions and reflective activities help students process what they learn and explore how past movements continue to shape our present. This journey invited students to step into history, listen deeply and return inspired to engage thoughtfully in their communities.

Below is a selection of DEIB-focused student organizations organized by division.  

Upper School 
- Black Student Union
- Jewish Student Association
- Asian Student Association
- Sexuality and Gender Alliance
- Christian Student Union  

Middle School 
- Black Student Union
- Sexuality and Gender Alliance  

Lower School Affinity Groups 
- Health and Dietary Needs
- BIPOC
- Jewish
- Muslim
- Christian
- Neurodiversity
- All Kinds of Families

SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) is a nationally recognized program that partners with schools and organizations to deepen equity and belonging through reflective learning. Participants engage in personal reflection, structured dialogue and collaborative inquiry that help uncover assumptions, broaden perspectives and guide meaningful systemic change. At Penn Charter, faculty have the opportunity to take part in SEED to strengthen inclusive teaching practices and build shared understanding within our community. In addition, parents and caregivers are invited to join SEED groups, extending learning beyond the classroom and fostering a home-school partnership grounded in empathy, equity and connection.

Upper School 

The Quaker concept of Continuing Revelation drives our faculty’s efforts to learn and grow in all matters, but particularly in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Faculty members participate in a range of professional learning experiences, which include monthly professional learning communities such as Building Anti-Racist White Educators (BARWE), Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED), Girls Social/Emotional and Educational Empowerment Group, Using Privilege for Social Equity, and many others. In addition, our faculty have done extensive training around racial literacy and racial stress. The goal is to increase open and honest conversations about how our work as teachers impacts the school community and to ensure that everyone can access opportunities and resources to reach their full potential.

Lower School

Our Lower School faculty is committed to ongoing learning in service of students. This ranges from new and best teaching practices to the difficult work of interrogating bias and developing cultural competency. We hold the Quaker testimonies of community, integrity and equality close when we do work related to developing a diverse and inclusive curriculum and school environment, especially when it comes to our own professional development. 

What does this look like in practice? It's visible in some of the books we chose last summer as our professional development reading such as The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, and The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys, by Moore, Michael and Penick-Parks. It is clear in the development and practice of the inclusive and respectful language we use with students and each other after reading The Power of Our Words by Paula Denton or working with Samantha Taylor from the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic at CHOP. It can be seen in the many workshops and conferences we attend, host and at which we present, such as the Multicultural Resource Center conference (MCRC) and People of Color Conference (POCC). And it lives in the work we are planning through our Diversity and Core Values committees and through faculty meetings dedicated to these topics.

Penn Charter and the Lower School are clearly committed to supporting and nurturing all students and families within our community. We do this proactively through curricular work, social-emotional learning and professional development, and responsively by working with individual and student groups as issues arise. Lower School is an intense period of learning and growth where students continue to develop compassion, empathy and respect. Our job is to help them live this practice and to facilitate their learning when they make a mistake that hurts a peer or the school community. We, in turn, do this with love and compassion, and with the belief that we can help our students to feel a sense of deep belonging and to thrive in a diverse and inclusive community.

Created in 2024, the Interfaith Space was developed in response to student leadership and a growing desire for a place on campus dedicated to spiritual and religious practice. Supported by the chair of religious studies, this room serves as a quiet, sacred environment for prayer, meditation, reflection and observance during the school day. The space exists solely for spiritual use and is open to students, faculty and staff on a drop-in basis, honoring the many faith traditions represented within our community.

Friends Multicultural Day is an annual Upper School event that celebrates the rich diversity of our campus community. Students research, design, and lead presentations that invite peers to consider culture, identity, history, and lived experiences beyond their own. Through this event, the school community learns to value multiple perspectives, deepen understanding, and grow as empathetic, informed change-makers aligned with the Portrait of a Penn Charter Learner. Previous topics have included sustainable farming, Holi and Indian culture, Indigenous roots of lacrosse, civic advocacy and legislative letter-writing, and water treatment in Philadelphia.

Upper School students and teachers have developed and facilitated the Cheryl Irving Student Diversity Summit held in memory of beloved Penn Charter teacher Cheryl Irving, who passed away in 2014. The event focuses on issues of inclusion, race and identity, and the goal is to equip young people with the tools they need to serve as ambassadors for community building and social justice.

Rooted in Quaker values — Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship — Penn Charter weaves diversity and inclusion into every corner of school life, from the classroom to the stage to the playing field. Our faculty, staff, and administration are deeply committed to ensuring every student and family feels they truly belong here.

In 1689, William Penn founded this school on a radical idea: that education should be open to everyone. One of the first schools to welcome students of all religions, races, and genders — and to offer financial aid — Penn Charter has championed access and equality from the very beginning. Those values still guide everything we do today.

Penn Charter's commitment to access has deep roots. As the fifth oldest school in the country, we were among the first to offer financial aid (1701), welcome students of all religions (1689) and races (1770), and educate girls (1754). Our alumni include Betsy Ross, abolitionist James Forten, and education reformer Roberts Vaux, a testament to the lasting impact of William Penn's founding vision.

Penn Charter began as a downtown urban school, and as it expanded, finding a new home took more than 50 years. But the wait was worth it. Today, our School House Lane campus offers something rare: a green, wide-open space that's still unmistakably part of the city. It's a place that draws families from across Philadelphia, New Jersey, and beyond, and feels like home to all of them.

In 1875, Penn Charter consolidated as a private all-boys college preparatory school, and for much of the following century, its students were predominantly white Christian males. Yet the school's public roots endured, and boys of all faiths and economic backgrounds found their way to Penn Charter, often made possible by need-based financial aid. As one alumnus from the Class of 1961 reflected: "Without the imagination and gumption" [of Samuel Carpenter, a Penn Charter donor] and "the moral and financial help I got to attend the school, I would not have gone on to attend Harvard, and I wouldn't have had the career and the life I've had."

Girls were enrolled in kindergarten and first grade throughout the 20th century, but Penn Charter became fully coed in 1991 and graduated the first modern coed class in 1992.

There are many definitions of access. In the fall of 2008, Penn Charter opened its doors to the youngest of students. It's not every day that we get to add a new grade and two dozen students. The program for four-year olds builds on Penn Charter's tradition of Quaker education, the Reggio-Emilia education and current best practices in teaching and learning for young children.