Students learn best when instruction is tailored to their individual needs and their differences are understood, accepted, and celebrated. For over 40 years, Stratford Friends School, located in Newtown Square, PA, has been a leader and a pioneer in the education of children who learn differently.  Stratford Friends students are bright and motivated students who have learning differences such as ADHD, dyslexia, receptive and expressive language delays, auditory processing issues, dyscalculia, executive function issues, or working memory deficits.  Often these students fall behind in a traditional classroom setting.  Stratford Friends’ small school model enables our teachers the opportunity to truly focus on each and every student.

Stratford Friends School serves grades K-9, with an average student to teacher ratio of 6:1. Our elementary and middle school programs are designed to prepare our unique learners for success. The well-rounded school day combines a research-based academic curriculum with STEAM and service-based learning, with physical education, and visual and performing arts that encourage our students’ creativity, builds a joy of learning, and bolsters self-esteem.

All Stratford Friends students receive their own Chromebook. New technology such as Juno FrontRow, an all-in-one audio classroom tool, and teacher cameras will allow for continued student engagement and support for in-class instruction and seamless transition to distance learning. This new technology will not only enhance the teacher’s voice within the classroom, it will also allow teachers to record lessons for at-home instruction or review.

Language instruction is taught using the Orton-Gillingham reading program, a researched-based curriculum, to provide explicit phonics instruction using multi-sensory techniques. Visual, auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic learning modalities are reinforced through systematic, explicit, diagnostic, and prescriptive instruction. This method develops the language abilities of each child by teaching foundational reading skills (decoding), spelling skills (encoding), and concepts through the involvement of all the student’s senses. In the hands of the highly trained and experienced teachers at Stratford Friends School, it is a powerful tool of exceptional breadth, depth, and flexibility.

Multi-sensory teaching techniques are used across the curriculum.  Students also benefit from support services including Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy. Therapists deliver services integrated into the classroom whenever possible, but also work with students individually or in small groups as needed.  A school counselor is also part of student life at Stratford Friends, to add with the development of social and emotional intelligences that may impact their learning.

Built on core Quaker values, this Independent school has quiet worship reflection time at the start of every day, and explicitly teaches the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship.  The school’s mission is to empower our students with the skills to be successful learners. Stratford Friends is a school committed to diversity, peacemaking, social justice, and the recognition of the spiritual dimension of life.

To schedule an individual tour or learn more about Stratford Friends School contact Patty Plousis, Director of Enrollment, at admissions@stratfordfriends.org or visit the school’s website at www.stratfordfriends.org.

Stratford Friends School supports the Main Line Parent Community.