Scattergood Friends School "Credo"

DRAFT - 1/26/02

What is it that we, as the community of Scattergood Friends School, holdmost basic and true about our school?

Above all else, and fundamental to Scattergood’s historic mission is thisassertion: A complete education is not just what happens in a classroomin a school. Rather, it is what happens in a learning community that includesclassrooms. School is something you attend and from which you graduate. A learning community is something you join, spread, and return tothroughout your life. In a school you earn a diploma based on the classesyou have passed. In a learning community, commencement also represents theculmination of a total life experience lived successfully for a portion ofyour life among friends and advocates of all ages. In a school, some areteachers and others are students. In a learning community we are all studentsand we are all teachers, at different times and in different contexts. Aschool has standards against which students are rated and compared. In alearning community we embrace the idea that each student’s journey is theirown, and our role is to lend our support and structure to best help eachperson on their journey. In a school, success is measured quantitatively. In a learning community, we measure success by the extent to which we areempowered, enlivened and equipped for success in our lives and in supportof the lives of others.

The primary means by which we carry out our mission is through ouracademic program, our cooperative work program, and our community life basedon Quaker values. Each of these Scattergood cornerstones encompasseslearning settings that range from the most traditional to the most exploratoryand experiential. It is Scattergood’s unique collection of learning settings,within the context of a learning community that is also our home, which ultimatelydefines us as an institution. Each critical learning setting carries itsown curriculum, either explicit or inferred, and taken together enables thegoal of educating the whole person.

The ideals upon which we describe a well-educated whole person arederived from deeply rooted Quaker values, and include above all else therecognition of each person’s self worth. In our learning community weseek to empower each individual to embark on their own spiritual journey,to be good global citizens, to commit themselves to life-long learning, tolive constructively in their community, and to be successful in whateverendeavors they seek to undertake. Scattergood’s many learning settings providethe means by which each of these aspects of the human character may developand prosper.

We value these attributes of Scattergood: our educational program isvibrant, adaptable, and experiential; we are small enough that each personis an important part of the whole, receiving the attention they need; weexist as a community, including the sharing of the work required to sustaina group of people, the place we live, and the land upon which we grow foodfor ourselves and others; we value all the different ways that people cangrow, be gifted, struggle, and contribute; and we believe in the Quaker valuesof simplicity, integrity, non-violence, equality, and the simple act of sittingin silence together.