How Far? Campaign Success

Deepen our identity and actions as a Friends school — and our students' understanding of Quaker values — to prepare our graduates to live lives that make a difference.

Our Strategy

The centrality of "that of God" in each person and of Meeting for Worship continue to ground our community and relationships, just as reflection and the habit of silence continues to nurture learning and spiritual well-being. Quaker practice guides us to plan for a healthy balance for students, teachers and staff in the school schedule and curriculum.

We have integrated service learning into the curriculum, pre-K to 12, and, as a private school with a public mission, created a Center for Public Purpose, a place where our students and the wider community advance issues of equity, social justice and peace.

In addition, we:

• Model and teach integrity, truth-telling, conflict resolution and ethical choices.

• Achieve a diversity of people, including an increased presence of Quakers.

• Prioritize environmental stewardship in the daily life of the school and in long-range decisions about building and remodeling projects.

• Seek opportunities for collaborations that enhance global competency through a commitment to Philadelphia and the world.

Advance our educational program to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a complex and changing world.

Our Strategy

In addition, we:

• Utilize current brain research about how children learn best to develop more strategies for individualizing learning within the curriculum and through learning support services.

• Develop a distinctive identity for each division that is built around an age-appropriate experience.

• Collaborate locally, nationally and internationally to enhance learning and leadership opportunities for Penn Charter students.

• Educate students for global competency through classroom experience, service, student exchanges and travel.

• Teach environmental awareness and develop advocacy for environmental sustainability.

Promote excellence in teaching by supporting faculty to develop and advance their professional practice.

Our Strategy

In addition, we:

• Refine faculty evaluation to better align with desired student outcomes, and encourage and reward innovation and leadership.

• Support faculty professional development, including summer work, faculty mentors and leadership coaching.

• Provide structured opportunities and ample time for the development of cross-divisional and interdisciplinary work as well as collaboration among teachers and between students and teachers.

• Strengthen faculty use of technology to further excellence in teaching and learning.

Reimagine the use of time.

Our Strategy

In addition, we:

• Rethink and refine learning outside school hours, including homework, to engage students in meaningful work.

• Plan time for reflection and mindfulness.

• View a students' day and year holistically, supporting balance and a healthy pace.

• Support the tradition of strong student-teacher relationships.

Develop and repurpose space to serve the changing needs of the Penn Charter Program and mission.

Our Strategy

A 21st century curriculum required a reconsideration of the Penn Charter campus.

The Strategic Vision called for a state-of-the-art Lower School. And beyond that?

We are blessed with a 47-acre, green campus in one of the largest cities in the country. The campus offers obvious advantages, including acres of playing fields, and hidden treasures such as the wetlands on the Strawbridge campus. We developed and repurposed space to fit the needs of a dynamic new curriculum including a new lecture style classroom in L1, a new track, a new turf baseball facility, and a state-of-the-art Athletics & Wellness Center.

In addition, we:

• Develop facilities plans that supports our educational program 

• Create environmental plans that fosters environmental stewardship and develops systems and processes to ensure all decisions are evaluated in light of their environmental impact, with consideration of affordable and sustainable alternatives.

• Expand educational opportunities beyond the is 44-acre campus to include off-site learning with academic, cultural and corporate institutions in metropolitan Philadelphia.

Spaces Update and Architectural Drawings

Provide for financial sustainability and support the mission of the school and the goals of the Strategic Plan.

Our Strategy