Thornton Friends School Statement of Philosophy

Approved by the Board of Trustees, September, 2005

Thornton Friends School is a small independent Quaker school in Silver Spring, Maryland, serving middle and high school students from the greater Washington DC area.  Thornton seeks to inspire and engage students and their families in a process of inquiry and reflection through which we live and learn in community with one another.  We respectfully celebrate each student and his or her academic and human potential.

Guided by principles and practices of the Religious Society of Friends, Thornton Friends School acts on the belief that the community and the individual are different aspects of the same divine expression as informed through the silent reflection of Meeting for Worship. Simplicity, truth, authenticity, trust, stewardship of our environment, peaceful resolution of conflict, and compassion for self and others are values reflected in our daily life here at Thornton. 

Thornton Friends School believes that each student has unique inherent worth, insight, motivation and ability to learn.  Faculty at Thornton nurture and enrich the spiritual, intellectual, artistic, social, and physical aspects of our students within a college preparatory curriculum that is rooted in progressive Quaker educational theory and practice.  Our students and teachers enter into relationships marked by trust, respect, and collegiality that are crucial to success in the classroom and beyond. 

Thornton Friends School’s student-centered classes are active, inquiry-based, and rich in discussion and participation.  We make ample use of the outdoors and other resources outside of the school building.  We combine high expectations with flexibility in order to meet all of our students where they are and challenge them to extend their perceived limits.  Our teachers and our curriculum respect differing styles of learning and multiple intelligences.  

We work best with students who will thrive in a very small school setting with small classrooms in which they are well known and understood by their teachers.  Young people with curiosity, a gentle spirit, and above-average intelligence tend to do well at Thornton, even if they have found success hard to come by in recent years and need to reengage in the educational process. 

We at Thornton Friends School seek to prepare our students to apply their intelligence, skills, and creativity in compassionate and collaborative ways to help create a better world. •