Friends Seminary

Friends Seminary is a private day school in Manhattan. The school, the oldest continuously coeducational school in New York City, serves 761 college-bound day students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. The school's mission is to prepare students "not only for the world that is, but to help them bring about the world that ought to be." It is guided by a service mission statement and a diversity mission statement. Friends is a member of New York's Independent School Diversity Network, and diversity is a key part of its educational philosophy.Currently, Robert "Bo" Lauder is principal, the school's 35th. Lauder came to Friends in the fall of 2002 after serving as Upper School Head at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.HistoryFriends Seminary, established by members of the Religious Society of Friends, whose members are known as Quakers, was founded in 1786 as Friends' Institute through a $10,000 bequest of Robert Murray, a wealthy New York merchant. It was located on Pearl Street in Manhattan and strived to provide Quaker children with a "guarded education." In 1826, the school was moved to a larger campus on Elizabeth Street. Tuition in that year was $10 or less per annum, except for the oldest students, whose families paid $20. (By 1915, tuition had risen to $250.) The school again moved in 1860 to its current location and changed its name to Friends Seminary.In 1878, Friends Seminary was one of the earliest of schools to establish a Kindergarten. In 1925, it was the fi

We strive to build a diverse school where students exercise their curiosity and imagination as they develop as scholars, artists and athletes.