History of Chicago Friends School
Chicago Friends School first began in 2009, when a group of local Quakers and like-minded parents began to discuss their desire to see a Quaker school in Chicago. Their vision was of a school that valued the whole child and taught students to develop spiritually, academically, creatively with instruction tailored according to each student’s developmental needs.
After a year of dedicated planning and design, Chicago Friends School opened up in 2010 in a storefront on Belmont Avenue as a one-room schoolhouse serving students from age 3 to 11. It used project-based instruction and worked with each child to achieve the school’s aims. Despite programmatic successes, after a year at the Belmont location, the school community knew it needed to find a new location and consider the sustainability of its model and how best to grow. The board decided to take a year off and think more deeply about the school model and lessons learned from a year in operation.
Chicago Friends School reopened in 2012 on Thorndale Avenue in Edgewater. At that time, it was a six-student, K–1 school. The goal was to build up the student body grade by grade until Chicago Friends School grew into its maturity as a vibrant, K–8 school serving students from all over Chicago. Consistent with the school’s size and the Quaker commitment to community, all non-teaching school functions were done by board members and dedicated parent volunteers.
In 2025, Chicago Friends School relocated further south to the Andersonville neighborhood. The school served grades K–8 in five classrooms (one each for grades K-1, 2-3, and 4-5, and one classroom each for middle school STEAM and English-Language Arts). It had five homeroom teachers, a head of school, a director of admissions, numerous part-time special-subject instructors, and several part-time workers who helped with other functions of the school. But it retained a deep reliance on community. Parents and other volunteers served in crucial roles such as fundraising, marketing, and admissions.