History

The Philadelphia School was founded in 1972 by a group of parents who wanted to nurture and protect a child's natural curiosity. They set out to create a professionally run school guided by the following ideas:  use the vast resources of the city of Philadelphia in meaningful ways, facilitate direct and frequent experience with the natural world, foster creativity and innovation, respond to new developments in education, set high academic standards, celebrate joyful learning, and respect and educate the whole child.

And they succeeded. Today, more than three decades later, our founders' vision of a CITY COUNTRY CLASSROOM endures. We've grown from 14 children to 367; from rented rooms in Rodeph Shalom Synagogue on Broad Street to our own home on Lombard Street; and from a couple of Apple II computers to 130 laptops. Yet our founders would no doubt recognize the school they started: their CITY COUNTRY CLASSROOM.  So much of who and what we do today – our core values, our passion for teaching and learning, our respect for childhood, our celebration of creativity and innovation – harkens back to the dreams of our founders.

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