Investing in our faculty members, both personally and professionally, affirms their individual contributions to our community and acknowledges their vital role in preparing students with the skills, values, and habits of mind to shape a more just and sustainable world.
But continuing to attract, support, and retain the best and brightest faculty members requires us to compete regionally, nationally, and even globally. With greater resources available to recognize, encourage, and train our teachers, we envision nurturing our collegial and professional working environment—achieving renown as a great place to establish and build a career as an educator. In this way, we can support these invaluable members of our community as they, too, seek to realize their fullest potential.
We aim to:
Substantially increase our budget for recruiting, retaining, and recognizing top- notch faculty members. The flexibility to offer more opportunities for fellowship, bonuses for exceptional contributions, and a Master Teacher designation would foster an inviting working environment for ambitious new teachers and expert educators alike.
Increase faculty compensation to meet national benchmarks. Ensuring that our passionate, dedicated faculty are compensated at levels equal to their peers at other schools will improve recruitment and retention.
Support faculty members seeking advanced degrees. Encouraging our faculty members' ongoing education would put us on a more competitive footing for recruiting teachers while modeling the importance of life-long learning for our students. In addition, we envision the transformational ability to send teams of teachers, rather than individuals, to workshops and professional development opportunities.
Offer competitive stipends and/or release from coursework for department chair positions. Recognizing our faculty leaders would both affirm their outstanding contributions and free them to focus on advancing our academic programs.
8th graders enjoyed Fright Night, a fun event in the WFS Library Learning Commons featuring pizza and snacks along with one scary and one not-so-scary movie!
During our recent professional development day, faculty and staff had time to participate in an activity to have fun and connect with colleagues. Choices included forest bathing; AIKIDO; pickle ball; volleyball; Meet and Greet; and Read and Relax. Here are photos from "Walk and Connect" in the neighborhood and Alapocas Woods.
Kindergartners visited Ramsey's Farm! Students engaged in five stations–– enjoying a hayride, feeding the cows and goats (and steering clear of pecky chickens!), picking pumpkins, navigating a corn maze, and playing on the combine playground. We love getting out into the fresh air for hands-on learning!
Upper schoolers learned about the School Year Abroad (SYA) program at WFS, hearing from a representative from SYA along with Rose Mulveny ’26 and Abbie Thurlow ’26 who participated in the program last year.
Adrian Burston, a former Friends teacher and Vice President of the Kennett Underground Railroad Center, and Debbie Burston, board member of the Kennett Underground Railroad Center, presented to 10th grade American History students about the local history of the Underground Railroad and the involvement of Quakers in the local abolition movement.
Lower School Spanish teacher Lara Munch spent her sabbatical exploring the intersection of culture, history, and language—both within the United States and abroad.
Middle School Spanish teacher Laura Jersild Pardo ’90 explored nature and the brain in a de-natured culture, asking how embodied, real-world experiences shape mental health, creativity, and problem-solving.
On the evening of Friday, October 3, more than 200 guests gathered in the Library Learning Commons for a night of community, music, and recognition. Guests enjoyed dinner and a lively performance from the Upper School Jazz Band. The program then turned to celebrating this year’s alumni honorees, who all let their lives speak in their own ways.
Today, seniors met their first-grade buddies for the first time in the 2025–26 school year! First graders shared stories from their first month of school with their buddies, then collaborated on creative art projects together.
Thank you to all in our community for a wonderful Homecoming 2025! It was great to have so many current families, alumni, and friends on campus for the festivities. Please visit our SmugMug site for even more photos (password can be found in the Friends on Friday message).
On National Coaches Day, check out this amazing trio of alumnae coaches (Nat Bush ’22, Dani Nathan ’19, and Mariah Aldridge ’21) on the WFS volleyball sidelines! Special thanks to all of our coaches at each level who make a difference in the lives of our student-athletes every day. Go Blue!
Fourth graders became geologists this week! Given samples of unknown minerals, they put their observation and problem-solving skills to work by examining properties such as texture, color, and shape—then testing hardness to identify each mineral sample.
For Spirit Week Sports Connections, upper and middle school athletes visited the lower school, introducing students to cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, and volleyball.
Statement of Nondiscrimination as to Student Enrollment
Wilmington Friends School admits students of any race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of these schools. Wilmington Friends School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin in administration of their educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.