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about us

Welcome to the San Francisco Friends School! SFFS is a vibrant, diverse, and intentional learning community.

Our school is both young, celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, and old, part of a storied 325-year tradition of Friends education. This tradition of excellence in both academics and character, the head and the heart, is what we at SFFS call education for action. Our students graduate from Friends with a sense of their education as both a joyful and meaningful journey. Our students learn how to listen, see the inner light in others, take multiple perspectives, and identify a sense of personal responsibility for the world we live in.

Our philosophy is clear: we offer an academically rigorous program, rooted in a progressive approach, that is intellectually engaging, purposeful, and affirming of the spirit of each child.Our philosophy is clear: we offer an academically rigorous program, rooted in a progressive approach, that is intellectually engaging, purposeful, and affirming of the spirit of each child. Our teachers have intentionally cultivated classrooms that are rooted in inquiry and connected to the world beyond. Along the way we seize every opportunity to learn in and from our neighborhood, our city, and the entire Bay Area—­­­and we embrace our responsibility to contribute. From delivering homemade bread to GLIDE to weekly 8th Grade trips to the Gubbio Project to wipe down cots and wash dishes, our home in the Mission anchors us as a community.

I can distinctly remember the first time I visited SFFS last fall as I prepared to become the third Head of School at SFFS. The sense of belonging and warmth are quickly felt and witnessed as you come through the doors at 250 Valencia Street–be it in the classroom, on the Front Yard, or in the hallways during Morning Meetings. Students feel seen and known in a nurturing and close knit community of faculty and staff. The underpinning of Quaker values in our program—the “SPICES”—as we lovingly call them–provide a ripe foundation for students and teachers to find and work with a sense of shared purpose. Coupled with a constructivist approach in the classroom, San Francisco Friends enables students to develop agency and confidence in these early developmental years.  

I am honored to welcome you to our school and to lead the San Francisco Friends School community in our next chapter. I hope you’ll explore our website—and visit our Valencia Street campus to learn more about the progressive and unique Quaker education that thrives here. 

Our Mission

At San Francisco Friends School, students learn in a community grounded in the Quaker values of reflection, integrity, peaceful problem-solving and stewardship. 

Our teachers challenge students with a dynamic curriculum that inspires curiosity, cooperation and hard work. We teach children to listen to all voices and to trust their own. 

We engage with the world around us with kindness and conviction, working toward the Quaker ideal of a caring and just society.

To read our Winter 2023 issue of Among Friends, click here!