The Shipley School
Encyclopedia
The Shipley School is a coeducational, independent, college-preparatory day school
with approximately 835 students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. Shipley is located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
, approximately 12 miles west of Philadelphia.
In September 2006, Shipley was named the number one coeducational school in the Philadelphia area and the number two school overall by Philadelphia Magazine.
, which is located directly across the street. The Shipley sisters were strong-minded, well-educated Quaker women and envisioned the school as far more than a mere finishing school
. When the school opened in the Fall of 1894, with six students and nine faculty members, a philosophy of education was established that would guide the school for over a hundred years, up to the present time.
By the 1940s, Shipley had expanded its purpose and student body admitting approximately 340 students and sending its graduates to many traditional women's colleges. At this time, about half of all Upper School students were boarders hailing from all over the country and from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Shipley discontinued its boarding department and began to admit male students. The last boarders graduated in 1982, and by 1984 the school was fully coeducational with equal numbers of girls and boys. Starting in the 1990s, and increasingly since then, Shipley has augmented their traditional teaching methods and facilities with growing technological expertise and equipment.
Shipley's innovative curriculum, increasingly interdisciplinary and project-based, is designed specifically to give students the tools to succeed in college and in life in the 21st century.
enrolls about 296 students in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade with an average class size of 15 students. Teachers are aided by full-time teaching assistant, providing a student-to-teacher ratio of seven-to-one. In recent years the Lower School has added a character development component to its curriculum, designed to encourage and instill compassionate, respectful, and principled behavior. The Lower School also offers:
has about 209 students in grades six through eight. The average class size is 17 . Students enroll in math, history, science, English, and foreign language (Latin and French, Mandarin, or Spanish) courses. Students also complete coursework in computer literacy
, studio art
, theater, and music. In seventh grade, the curriculum
includes the "Generations Project," a several-week-long program during which students research their heritage
. Every spring the Middle School puts on a musical.
Athletics change significantly during Middle School. In sixth grade, students have the option to participate in a physical education
program or in an intra-school athletic league. In seventh and eighth grades, students are encouraged to join sports teams which compete against area schools. Middle School interscholastic boys' sports include soccer, basketball, squash, baseball, tennis, and lacrosse. Girls' sports include soccer, field hockey, tennis, volleyball, basketball, swimming, softball, and lacrosse. For many sports, students are subdivided into multiple teams based on ability.
level. Prior to the 2008-2009 academic year, Shipley offered Advanced Placement courses in most subjects. Like many other independent schools, Shipley has discontinued its Advanced Placement program to increase curricular latitude, although it still offers AP Studio Art. Students who desire to take Advanced Placement tests in other subjects continue to do so and do well in them.
While in Upper School, students must take four English courses, three math courses, three courses in the same world language, two history courses (including US history), and two science courses. Every year, students must enroll in five of these "major courses," each of which meets six times during the seven-day rotation. Students may also take major courses in studio art, music theory
, philosophy, art history
, economics, film, or humanities. During junior year, students can elect to take an interdisciplinary American Studies
course, which fulfills both a history and English requirement. Additionally, "minor courses," which meet once or twice a rotation, are required in music, art, and health. Minor courses in theater and public speaking are also offered.
Every Upper School student is required complete a minimum of forty hours of community service
in order to graduate. During the last several weeks of senior year, students volunteer with an area service organization of their choice, in lieu of taking classes.
College counseling is available to every senior and second semester junior. Students take a "minor course" taught by the college counseling office during their junior spring and senior fall semesters.
. Abington Friends School
, The Academy of the New Church, Friends' Central School
, Friends Select School
, George School
, Germantown Friends School
, Moorestown Friends School
, and the Westtown School
are the other eight members of the conference.
Upper School students can choose from about 15 sports, most of which are offered at the varsity
and junior varsity
levels. Boys and girls compete on separate teams in the following sports: crew, soccer, cross country, tennis, basketball, squash, and lacrosse. The golf and swimming teams are co-ed. Additionally, there is a boys baseball team and girls softball, field hockey, and volleyball teams. Students who are particularly engaged in a sport that Shipley does not offer, may, with permission, engage in an independent sport for credit. Students who do not participate in at least two sports per year, are required to take physical education courses.
Shipley's colors are green and blue, and its mascot is the Gator. In recent years, the gym's student section has been dubbed "The Swamp," the alligator's natural habitat. Shipley teams have won 36 championships in the past 5 years.
The Boys Varsity Soccer is well respected as one of the top private school teams in the state. They have won 5 out of the last 7 Friends League Titles and qualified for the first Independent State Soccer Tournament.
ensemble, orchestra, and string ensemble.
In Middle School, in addition to the chorus, the school offers handbell
choirs, a wind ensemble, and a string ensemble. As of the 2009-2010 school year, students are no longer required to perform. The Middle School puts on a musical every spring.
In Upper School, while students are not required to perform, there are many more offerings in music and theater. Vocal groups include an Upper School chorus, a male a cappella
group (the Madriguys), and a female a cappella group (the Madrigals). Additionally, the Upper School has a Philharmonic orchestra, string ensemble, jazz band, handbell choir, and flute ensemble.
Upper School students can choose from a number of theater offerings. Traditionally, the theater department puts on a series of one act plays in the fall and a musical in the spring. The Shakespeare Program, started in 2002, presents a selection of Shakespeare scenes in the fall semester and a full Shakespeare play in the spring semester.
In 2010 a Shipley production, When Lilacs Last, written by the school's theater director, was performed at both the New York and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals.
Debate Team
Chess club
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
with approximately 835 students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. Shipley is located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
, approximately 12 miles west of Philadelphia.
In September 2006, Shipley was named the number one coeducational school in the Philadelphia area and the number two school overall by Philadelphia Magazine.
History
In 1889, three sister—Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katy-harine Shipley—founded Shipley to prepare girls for Bryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, which is located directly across the street. The Shipley sisters were strong-minded, well-educated Quaker women and envisioned the school as far more than a mere finishing school
Finishing school
A finishing school is "a private school for girls that emphasises training in cultural and social activities." The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the educational experience, with classes primarily on etiquette...
. When the school opened in the Fall of 1894, with six students and nine faculty members, a philosophy of education was established that would guide the school for over a hundred years, up to the present time.
By the 1940s, Shipley had expanded its purpose and student body admitting approximately 340 students and sending its graduates to many traditional women's colleges. At this time, about half of all Upper School students were boarders hailing from all over the country and from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Shipley discontinued its boarding department and began to admit male students. The last boarders graduated in 1982, and by 1984 the school was fully coeducational with equal numbers of girls and boys. Starting in the 1990s, and increasingly since then, Shipley has augmented their traditional teaching methods and facilities with growing technological expertise and equipment.
Shipley's innovative curriculum, increasingly interdisciplinary and project-based, is designed specifically to give students the tools to succeed in college and in life in the 21st century.
Mission
The Shipley School, a Pre-Kindergarten - grade 12 coeducational day school, is committed to educational excellence and dedicated to developing in each student a love of learning and a compassionate participation in the world. Through a strong college preparatory curriculum in the humanities and sciences, the school encourages curiosity, creativity, and respect for intellectual effort. Shipley upholds and promotes moral integrity, a sense of personal achievement and worth, and concern for others at school and in the larger community.
Lower School
The Lower SchoolPrimary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
enrolls about 296 students in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade with an average class size of 15 students. Teachers are aided by full-time teaching assistant, providing a student-to-teacher ratio of seven-to-one. In recent years the Lower School has added a character development component to its curriculum, designed to encourage and instill compassionate, respectful, and principled behavior. The Lower School also offers:
- An after-school program from three to six in the afternoon
- Private music lessons
- A drama club for fourth and fifth grade students
Middle school
The Middle SchoolMiddle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
has about 209 students in grades six through eight. The average class size is 17 . Students enroll in math, history, science, English, and foreign language (Latin and French, Mandarin, or Spanish) courses. Students also complete coursework in computer literacy
Computer literacy
Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from elementary use to programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer to the comfort level someone has with using...
, studio art
Studio art
Studio art is made of art and studio, and the term has several implications depending on the context used. The term encompasses all art forms, be they performing or visual.-Definition:...
, theater, and music. In seventh grade, the curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
includes the "Generations Project," a several-week-long program during which students research their heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
. Every spring the Middle School puts on a musical.
Athletics change significantly during Middle School. In sixth grade, students have the option to participate in a physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
program or in an intra-school athletic league. In seventh and eighth grades, students are encouraged to join sports teams which compete against area schools. Middle School interscholastic boys' sports include soccer, basketball, squash, baseball, tennis, and lacrosse. Girls' sports include soccer, field hockey, tennis, volleyball, basketball, swimming, softball, and lacrosse. For many sports, students are subdivided into multiple teams based on ability.
Upper School
The Upper School enrolls about 330 students in the ninth through twelfth grades. The average class size is 12 students. In most courses, students can choose to take either a standard or honorsHonors course
Honors course is a distinction applied in the United States to certain classes to distinguish them from standard course offerings. The difference between a regular class and the honors class is not necessarily the amount of work, but the type of work required and the pace of studying...
level. Prior to the 2008-2009 academic year, Shipley offered Advanced Placement courses in most subjects. Like many other independent schools, Shipley has discontinued its Advanced Placement program to increase curricular latitude, although it still offers AP Studio Art. Students who desire to take Advanced Placement tests in other subjects continue to do so and do well in them.
While in Upper School, students must take four English courses, three math courses, three courses in the same world language, two history courses (including US history), and two science courses. Every year, students must enroll in five of these "major courses," each of which meets six times during the seven-day rotation. Students may also take major courses in studio art, music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, philosophy, art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
, economics, film, or humanities. During junior year, students can elect to take an interdisciplinary American Studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
course, which fulfills both a history and English requirement. Additionally, "minor courses," which meet once or twice a rotation, are required in music, art, and health. Minor courses in theater and public speaking are also offered.
Every Upper School student is required complete a minimum of forty hours of community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
in order to graduate. During the last several weeks of senior year, students volunteer with an area service organization of their choice, in lieu of taking classes.
College counseling is available to every senior and second semester junior. Students take a "minor course" taught by the college counseling office during their junior spring and senior fall semesters.
Athletics
Since the 2005-2006 school year, Shipley has competed in the Friends Schools League, which was founded in 1982 on the principles of the Religious Society of FriendsReligious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
. Abington Friends School
Abington Friends School
Abington Friends School, founded in 1697, is a K-12 private Quaker secondary school in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania . It is the oldest primary and secondary educational institution in the United States to operate continuously at the same location under the same management...
, The Academy of the New Church, Friends' Central School
Friends' Central School
Friends' Central School is a college-preparatory, Quaker, coeducational day school for nursery through grade 12 located in Wynnewood, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, Friends Select School
Friends Select School
Friends Select School is a private Quaker school in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school has approximately 530 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and focuses on college preparation in the "upper school" . With a history dating to 1689, Friends Select has been located at...
, George School
George School
George School is a private Quaker boarding and day high school located on a rural campus near Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grown from a single building to over 20 academic, athletic, and residential buildings...
, Germantown Friends School
Germantown Friends School
Germantown Friends School is a coeducational K-12 school in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States under the supervision of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends . It is governed by a School Committee whose members are drawn mainly...
, Moorestown Friends School
Moorestown Friends School
Moorestown Friends School is a private Quaker school located at East Main Street and Chester Avenue in Moorestown, New Jersey. As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 668 students and 81.0 classroom teachers , for a student–teacher ratio of 8.2...
, and the Westtown School
Westtown School
Westtown School is a coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.-About Westtown School:...
are the other eight members of the conference.
Upper School students can choose from about 15 sports, most of which are offered at the varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
and junior varsity
Junior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
levels. Boys and girls compete on separate teams in the following sports: crew, soccer, cross country, tennis, basketball, squash, and lacrosse. The golf and swimming teams are co-ed. Additionally, there is a boys baseball team and girls softball, field hockey, and volleyball teams. Students who are particularly engaged in a sport that Shipley does not offer, may, with permission, engage in an independent sport for credit. Students who do not participate in at least two sports per year, are required to take physical education courses.
Shipley's colors are green and blue, and its mascot is the Gator. In recent years, the gym's student section has been dubbed "The Swamp," the alligator's natural habitat. Shipley teams have won 36 championships in the past 5 years.
The Boys Varsity Soccer is well respected as one of the top private school teams in the state. They have won 5 out of the last 7 Friends League Titles and qualified for the first Independent State Soccer Tournament.
The arts
Lower School students perform in plays throughout the year and sing in the chorus. Lower School students are also encouraged to participate in the advanced chorus, recorderRecorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
ensemble, orchestra, and string ensemble.
In Middle School, in addition to the chorus, the school offers handbell
Handbell
A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle — traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic — and moves the wrist to make the hinged clapper inside the bell strike...
choirs, a wind ensemble, and a string ensemble. As of the 2009-2010 school year, students are no longer required to perform. The Middle School puts on a musical every spring.
In Upper School, while students are not required to perform, there are many more offerings in music and theater. Vocal groups include an Upper School chorus, a male a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group (the Madriguys), and a female a cappella group (the Madrigals). Additionally, the Upper School has a Philharmonic orchestra, string ensemble, jazz band, handbell choir, and flute ensemble.
Upper School students can choose from a number of theater offerings. Traditionally, the theater department puts on a series of one act plays in the fall and a musical in the spring. The Shakespeare Program, started in 2002, presents a selection of Shakespeare scenes in the fall semester and a full Shakespeare play in the spring semester.
In 2010 a Shipley production, When Lilacs Last, written by the school's theater director, was performed at both the New York and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Shipley students participate in many different clubs, activities, and publications. An incomplete list is included below.- Student CouncilStudent councilStudent council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
- Sprouts, a horticultural club which participates annually in the Philadelphia Flower ShowPhiladelphia Flower ShowThe Philadelphia International Flower Show is an annual event produced by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in early March...
- Model United NationsModel United NationsModel United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
Club, which sends a delegation to several Model United Nations conferences each year - YearbookYearbookA yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
Club - Mathletes
- The Compass, the school's literary and visual arts publication
- The Beacon, the student newspaperStudent newspaperA student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
- Yehipls, an improvisational comedy troupe
- The Lorax, an environmental advocacy group
- Green Gators, an environmental club, and last year's runner up in the Lexus Eco-Challenge
- Spectrum, a club for lesbianLesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gayGayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bi-sexual, and transgenderTransgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBTLGBTLGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) students and allies - The Outdoors Club, which leads wilderness hikes and every year offers a ski trip in the Poconos.
- Science Underground, a club where students can work on science projects for fun
- LGBT Alliance Group for Students uniting to promote awareness and safety for homosexuals
- Students United for Racial Equality (SURE)
- Student Advisors (STADS), a group of 11th graders who mentor the freshmen as they transition into the Upper School
Debate Team
Chess club
School Profile
- Over the last five years, 24 percent of Shipley graduates received formal recognition from the National Merit Scholarship ProgramNational Merit Scholarship ProgramThe National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation , a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955...
- The school has 118 full- and part-time faculty members, 64 percent with graduate degrees, almost 70 percent with 12 or more years of teaching experience and almost 50 percent with nine or more years of experience at Shipley. The student-to-faculty ratio is seven-to-one
- Male-to-female ratio: 51-to-49
- Minority students as a percent of the overall student body: 19%
- Tuition average by division, 2010-2011
- Lower School: $22,467
- Middle School: $26,675
- Upper School: $29,995
- Percent of students receiving financial aid: 26%
Trivia
- Shipley is mentioned in J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the RyeThe Catcher in the RyeThe Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...
. The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, believes Jane Gallagher to have gone to either Shipley or "B.M." which could be interpreted as Bryn Mawr. J.D. Salinger's first wife, Claire Douglas, was a Shipley alumna. - Shipley is also mentioned in Tad Friend's Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor. Friend attended Shipley before matriculating to Harvard and later writing for The New Yorker.
- Synthpunk artist Adam GorenAdam GorenAdam Goren is a musician, best known as the sole member of the synthpunk band Atom and His Package.-Background and career:...
teaches chemistry and physics to Upper School students. - Victoria LegrandVictoria LegrandVictoria Legrand is a singer-songwriter and keyboardist for the indie-pop band Beach House and a niece of famous French composer Michel Legrand...
of the dream pop duo Beach HouseBeach HouseBeach House is a dream pop duo formed in 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland, consisting of French-born Victoria Legrand and Baltimore native Alex Scally. Their self-titled debut, Beach House, released in 2006, was critically acclaimed. This was followed by their second release, Devotion, in 2008...
is a Shipley graduate. Her younger sister Teddy Chase is currently a senior at the school.