An Institute for Teaching and Learning

Expanding our role as a global resource in education

Carolina Friends School has for five decades built an educational program that honors the authentic voice of children in their own learning and supports teachers in honing their craft — and leaders in the educational field have taken note. In addition to impacting over 500 students and their families each year in our learning community, we have also created programs expanding our outreach into the community, through both our Extended Learning and Peaceful Schools, NC programs. The time is now ripe to create a unique hub for teaching innovation and the development of global citizenship, guided by the years of experience and driven by the mission of Carolina Friends School.

As part of our strategic vision, we will develop a new institute for teaching and learning. It will gather and grow existing efforts in Extended Learning (including Summer Programs and enrichment courses), Peaceful Schools NC, staff professional development, and global learning. It will also serve as an incubator for new signature educational programs. This will make elements of our extraordinary educational approach more visible and accessible to other schools and organizations, provide new and deeper experiences for inquiry and leadership for our students and staff, and enhance revenue for the School.

Our teachers will benefit from a support structure for the incubation of new ideas and initiatives and intercultural exchanges. Our current students and families will benefit from new opportunities for travel, learning, and leadership. The institute will afford our alumni and other community members new avenues for engagement. It will also strengthen our ability to attract prospective families by communicating the value of our educational model through visible leadership in the educational community.

Work to create this institute has already begun. A full-time position was created this year to provide administrative support for the existing initiatives now gathered under the umbrella of the institute and to coordinate our Summer Programs. Ruthie Allen, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and summer Leadership Team veteran has brought a deep respect for Quaker values, abundant energy, and creative new ideas to the role. In addition, we’re excited to announce that Director of Extended Learning Anthony L. Clay will be expanding his current role to work closely with the Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning and the staff for Peaceful Schools NC (also teachers in our Middle School). While he will continue to oversee development of Extended Learning programs, he will become the institute’s first director. He has already brought his characteristic sense of innovation and depth of knowledge about our School to work envisioning the potential for the institute.

Providing this additional support and gathering ongoing work has enabled more strategic collaboration and deeper engagement with external partners, including the six other schools in the Peaceful Schools, NC network and the Huafa Schools of Zhuhai, China, as well as the current families served by our Extended Day, Student Enrichment, and Summer Programs.The staff who are constructing the institute want to create not just an administrative office but a hub and ecosystem for collaboration and innovation unseen in the pre-K through grade 12 landscape. Students, researchers, and practitioners would all have a role in helping to redefine education in the 21st century.

We are ready to help.