Erin Robins went to a Friends school as a child, so when she and her husband, Shaun, began exploring schools for their daughter, Grace, she naturally gravitated toward the Quaker approach.
 
At Goshen Friends School, an independent Quaker school in West Chester that serves children from age 3 through kindergarten, Erin found her child’s first school and a community. Grace, now a first grader, has moved on to a local public elementary school, but her 3-year-old brother, Liam, is now at Goshen Friends. The family lives in Willistown. 
 
“Goshen Friends is so small that you actually get to know everyone,” Erin said.
 
Among the many events at the school is a monthly gathering for children to sing and celebrate with fellow students. A vibrant parent community offers many ways for parents to get involved. It feels like a family, Erin said.

“Their principles just match our family’s belief that everyone is welcome, and the parent community reflects that,” she said.

Erin was attracted to the style of differentiated instruction that many Friends schools follow because she herself is a kinesthetic learner.
 
“The same lessons are taught, it’s just a different way,” she explained. “I really enjoyed that, and that’s how I learned as a kid.”
 
For Grace, Goshen Friends was about social development as well as practical learning.
 
“I got to to watch her go from not having any interaction with other children to having a full-blown personality and becoming outgoing and caring,” Erin said.
 
The small class sizes also help create a tight-knit community, for the kids as well as the adults. As Liam has come into the community, he’s experiencing the same benefits.

“Grace had the same interaction every day with the same small group of children. She started to understand the emotional needs of the kids and the teachers,” Erin said.

“I think that it gives them a little bit more one-on-one time with the teachers, but it also gives them more one-on-one time with the other kids,” she said. “That sets them up nicely for going into a larger classroom environment in kindergarten and first grade.”

Want to know more? Visit Goshen Friends online, or join us for one of our upcoming open houses:

Winter Open House: February 11, 2018, 1 — 3 pm

Preschool Fun Fair & Open House: May 12, 2018, 10 am — noon

Click here to register.

 
Photographs by Casey Kallen.