Friends’ Central Middle School in Wynnewood, PA, offers a nurturing and academically rigorous environment where middle school students excel because they feel comfortable, motivated, and confident as they learn and grow. The program and environment encourage students to embrace the joy that comes from intellectual discovery. Over the course of the year, students in grades 6 through 8 showcase their talents and interests through a variety of special events and culminating projects. These opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and skills allow students to truly shine.

Friends’ Central believes that integrating hands-on learning experiences engages students more deeply and results in deeper learning. Students work together to problem-solve creatively, building both a sense of self and a sense of community. The result is that students are empowered and confident and they have acquired a set of tools that will propel them through high school and beyond.

Allowing students to present their thoughts and ideas to a wider audience gives them a sense of purpose,” said Friends’ Central Middle School Principal Andy White ’03. “The immediate feedback they receive from peers, teachers, and community members at our capstone events is transformative. The walls of the classroom recede, and a global impact emerges. It’s so cool to see what our kids can do!”

Sixth Grade Food Fair & Poetry Day

For Friends’ Central sixth graders, the culminating event of their Nutrition & Digestion science unit is the annual Food Fair. Working in partners, students are tasked with creating and presenting a persuasive and balanced advertising campaign for a favorite food. At this spring’s fair, foods presented included Nutella, veggie burgers, strawberries, ramen, soft pretzels, and caviar. The sixth-grade teams display their research and provide samples of their chosen food for their classmates to taste.

The sixth grade also holds an annual Poetry Day at the end of each year, where students read their original spoken word poetry in front of other Middle Schoolers and display artwork that connects with their poems. Poems by all of the sixth graders are beautifully mounted on colored paper and hung from trees around the Middle School, creating a visually arresting “Poetry Walk.” This past year, the poems centered on the essential question, “How do we define ourselves?”

Seventh Grade Mars Rovers & History Walk

In the seventh grade, examples of end-of-year grade-wide culminating events include the history fair, where students share their final independent research projects covering a diverse range of topics of their choosing in a “Gallery Walk” format that is enjoyed by classmates as well as family and friends

Another seminal end-of-year moment for seventh grade is Mars Landing Day. Students are members of design and programming teams that create their own robotic Mars rovers out of LEGO®. These robots are programmed to execute a simulated mission to Mars, which, next year, will take place in the School’s newly built, state-of-the-art Audrie Gardham Ulmer ’37 Center for Innovation and Design.

Eighth Grade Showcase & Multilingual Fashion Show

For eighth graders, highlights include the “Multilingual Superhero Fashion Show” where students demonstrate their language skills (Spanish, French, Latin, or Mandarin). Dressed as a “superhero” of their choice, they appear on stage, describing their characters to the assembled eighth grade class in their language of study.

At the very end of Middle School, each 8th grade student participates in our annual Grade 8 Showcase. This culminating event allows students to share their unique interests and talents with families and classmates as they mark their transition to Upper School. The evening features a variety of performances and presentations, as students exhibit their work in the School’s dining hall and take to the stage with dance routines, original songs, and TED talks.

“The Grade 8 Showcase is an incredible opportunity for our students not only to highlight their talents but to demonstrate their ability to apply the high level academic, artistic, and athletic skills and knowledge they have acquired throughout their time here in Middle School,” shared Middle School Assistant Principal Lauren Davis.

A Rich, Engaging Curriculum and Progressive Pedagogy

The above are just a small sample of the dynamic and challenging curricular opportunities built into each Middle School grade; there are many others that take place across the academic year. And, beyond the classroom, opportunities abound for aspiring performing artists, visual artists, athletes, and engineers to shine on the stage, in the studio, on athletic fields, and in the state-of-the-art Makerspace facilities of the School’s beautiful 28-acre campus.

Discover how Friends’ Central School goes further at an Admissions event this fall:

• Thursday, September 26 – 9 am – Friends’ Central Middle & Upper School Open House (grades 6-12)
• Wednesday, October 16 – 4 pm – Friends’ Central Middle & Upper School Open House (grades 6-12)
• Thursday, November 14 – 5:30 pm – Friends’ Central Middle School Tour Evening (grades 6-8)

Friends’ Central Middle & Upper School, 1101 City Avenue, Wynnewood, PA 19096