Sandy Spring Friends School

Infobox School
name = Sandy Spring Friends School


motto = Let Your Lives Speak
established = 1961
type = Independent
religion = Quaker
grades = PK–12
head of school = Kenneth W. Smith
enrollment = 561
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location = 16923 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring, Maryland
information =
website = [http://www.ssfs.org/ www.ssfs.org]

Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS) is a Quaker pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade co-educational college preparatory day school with optional five and seven day boarding programs in the Upper School. SSFS is located on a convert|140|acre|km2|sing=on wooded campus in the historic Quaker community of Sandy Spring in the heart of Montgomery County, Maryland. The school offers academics, arts, and athletic programs, including Advanced Placement courses in the Upper School, and an emphasis on traditional Quaker values. SSFS is under the care of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting and the Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

History

The establishment of a Quaker school in the Sandy Spring community was first suggested by S. Brook Moore at a meeting for business of the Sandy Spring Friends Monthly Meeting in 1958. [ Quaker School Founder, Woodworker S. Brook Moore (Jul. 14, 2006), "Washington Post," p.B06. The proposal was subsequently made to the Baltimore Yearly Meeting. The Interchange, Vol. 37, No. 2 (BYM June 1962), at 2.] Although some were initially skeptical of the idea, the next day Brook received a $100 check and a group of concerned Friends formed a school committee shortly thereafter. Esther Scott followed by donating several acres of her family farm for the school and an adjacent Friends Center. SSFS opened its doors in September 1961 with 77 students in Grades 10 and 11. Twelfth Grade was added a year later.

The school’s first buildings were the Headmaster’s home, named “Scott House” after Esther Scott, and a dormitory, named “Moore Hall” after Brook Moore, with room for 46 students. The dormitory building also held two faculty apartments and classrooms, plus the school’s kitchen and dining room, library, laboratory and lockers on the lower level. [ The Interchange, Vol. 36, No. 2 (BYM June 1961) at 3.] The school quickly outgrew the original buildings, and over the next decade additional classrooms, an arts center, faculty housing, an infirmary and a second dormitory with expanded kitchen and dining facilities were constructed.

In 1973, a 9th Grade program was added, with classes initially held in the nearby Sandy Spring Community House. In 1980 SSFS expanded to include a middle school, and the lower school was added as a result of the 1993 merger with Friends Elementary School. [ The Interchange, Vol. 69, No. 4 (BYM Dec. 1993), at 12.]

The historic wooden Ashton Meeting House (built 1881) was moved onto the SSFS campus in 1983, [ The Interchange, Vol. 57, No. 2 (BYM Spring 1982), at 5.] and a new library and gymnasium was constructed in 1987. In 2005-2006, a new middle school building was added, as well as a new performing arts center and athletic facilities, along with substantial renovations to several of the existing buildings. [ Significant events in SSFS’s history are chronicled in issues of “Interchange,” The Quarterly Newsletter of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends, Feb. 1960 – Dec. 1993.]

The nearby Thornton Friends School traces its roots to an innovative academic program, the “Interlocking Curriculum,” that was first developed at SSFS in 1973.

Academic Profile

SSFS is accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools and approved by the Maryland Department of Education. It is a member of the [http://www.friendscouncil.org Friends Council on Education] and the National Association of Independent Schools, among others. The SSFS curriculum is intended to prepare students not only for entering college but also for being valuable citizens of the world. It stresses the challenge of Quaker values, academic excellence, and personal growth in an environment that stresses personal responsibility. Approximately 15% of the students are Quaker.

The Lower School (Pre-K to Grade 5) curriculum includes basic skills in reading, mathematics, science, art, music and languages, as well as conflict resolution and Quakerism, and children are encouraged to apply these skills to other life contexts, to think analytically, and to evaluate in both verbal and quantitative areas.

The Middle School (Grades 6-8) offers a curriculum of English, general mathematics and algebra, social studies, science, foreign language, art, music and sports. Other activities include field trips, art and music programs, and science activities.

The Upper School (Grades 9-12) has a daily schedule that includes six academic periods, jobs, lunch, an activities period, and sports. The average class size is 14 with a faculty-to-student ratio of 1:7. A 5- and 7-day boarding program is offered in the Upper School.

To graduate, students must earn 24 credits, including English (4), foreign language (3), history (3), mathematics (3), science (3), electives (3), and fine arts (3). Additional requirements (noncredit) include a physical activity each year and a semester-long course on Quakerism. Full-year courses are offered in English, French, Spanish, history, algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, advanced science, art, orchestra, chorus, theater, modern dance and wood shop. Advanced Placement courses are available in Art History, Environmental science, music theory, English, history, calculus, statistics, chemistry, French and Spanish. [ P. Bunting, Independent Private Schools (Bunting & Lyon 2007).]

Facilities

The wooded campus includes a stream, pond, meadows, and several athletic fields. The physical plant includes a historic Quaker Meetinghouse, a new science center, a new performing arts building with a fine arts wing, a new athletic complex that includes a fitness center, training room, and a 9000-square-foot gymnasium, an expanded Lower School, a new Middle School building, a dormitory and dining hall, three major classroom buildings, a large resource center with a 25,000-volume library, a second gymnasium, an observatory, classrooms, and computer lab, an administration building and faculty housing. Computers are integrated into many aspects of the curriculum. Each school division is equipped with its own computer lab, and every classroom is wired for network and Internet access. The School’s library includes computers for online research through online subscription reference tools and the Internet. [ Private Secondary Schools (Peterson’s Guides, Inc. 2008), pp. 1058-59.]

Traditions

Some of SSFS’s notable traditional activities, which date to the earliest days of the school, include the following:

"The Morely Games." The whimsical outdoor games of Frazzleerham, Hoop-a-Doop, Brindledorph, Nurdleybawl and Friedlefrappe were invented by Barry Morely, a long-time SSFS teacher. The Morely Games, inspired by limited funds and facilities early in the school’s history, made use of everyday objects, and continued to be played long after the introduction of soccer, lacrosse and other sports to the school’s curriculum. Brindledorph, a field hockey-like game, is played with ordinary brooms, and Hoop-a-Doop with old bicycle tires. Nurdleybawl (a variation on tee-ball) uses a small rubber ball and sawed-off softball bat. Frazzleerham, a combination of rugby, soccer, basketball and ultimate Frisbee, is played with a soccer ball and wastepaper can (held by the “frazzsnapper”) standing in a small enclosure (10’ x 10’ x 2’) or “rham” made of 2-by-4’s. In Friedlefrappe, a “friedlesphere” (a ball) is thrown up to a “friedlesnatcher” (goalie) standing on a “friedleplat” (an elevated platform) who attempts to catch it with a “friedlesnare” (a net on a pole), and defended by a “friedlefrapper” swinging a broom. [ “Games Friends Play,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 25, 1974.]

"Spirit Week." Held within the first few weeks of the school year, this recent school tradition is a weeklong event that features a number of school-wide and division-wide activities, such as "Twin Day" (students dress alike), "Pajama Day" (come to school dressed in pajamas), and "Crazy Hat and Hair Day."

"Community Day." Held in the fall, Community Day began as “Mountain Day,” in which the entire school would travel to nearby Sugarloaf Mountain for a picnic and a day of exploration. In the mid-1970s the venue changed to Catoctin Quaker Camp. As the size of the school grew and the logistics of transporting the entire school over long distances became more difficult, Mountain Day evolved into Community Day, a day of campus-based work projects (such trail maintenance, tending to the community garden, and bus waxing races), followed by school-wide games.

"Intersession." In the week before spring break each school year, all SSFS Upper School students are required to participate in an Intersession, a trip of experiential learning that supplements the traditional school curriculum. Intersessions often involve community service, physical activity, or environmental stewardship. In the past, Intersession trips have gone to Florida, Senegal, Korea, Sicily, and numerous other locations. [ M. Gerber, “Private School Guide,” Bethesda Magazine (Nov. 2005).]

"Strawberry Cowbake." An end-of-year festival featuring a cookout and strawberry shortcake.

School paper

"The Gnus" is a paper run by the school. "The Gnus" has changed every year with the high school students running it.In 2005, "The Gnus" announced that it would go to a new publishing format. Large issues would be published only four times a year; however, a weekly edition would be posted in public places around the school campus (for example, in bathroom stalls) for the convenience of students and faculty.

Notable Alumni

Robby Reider (Bassist of the Fueled By Ramen band The Friday Night Boys).

Jesse Swenson (Actor in the TV series Gossip Girl, and the Broadway musical Spring Awakening).

References

External links

* [http://www.ssfs.org Sandy Spring Friends School] Official website