Several Quaker elementary schools had existed in southern New Jersey in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including two in what would become present-day Gloucester County, namely the “Little Red Schoolhouse” under the care of Mickleton Meeting and a School under the care of Woodbury Monthly Meeting sometimes called the “Deptford Free-School Institute.” Eventually, these schools and others however ceased operation as local public schools emerged. Quaker secondary schools in the greater region continued during this period, and many local Quakers attended local public school before going to high school at Moorestown Friends School or one of the Pennsylvania boarding schools, Westtown School and George School. In 1952, local Quakers in Woodbury opened (or reopened) an independent Friends School separate from the local public school. According to an early document, the goal of the school was to be able to include Quaker principles “in all facets of the school day” as the founders believed that “these principles offer the student an opportunity for spiritual, moral, and mental growth.” While some Quakers worried, and still worry, about competition between Friends schools and local public schools, the advocates for independent Friends Schools believed that an alternative to public school would be of great value to some students. The new Friends School would be “open to all races and creeds” and, independent of state regulations, would have greater latitude to include both traditional and new approaches to education.
This historical entry is part of a series chronicling the history of Friends School Mullica Hill on the occasion of the School’s 50th anniversary. The entries begin with the first arrival of Quakers in the region and continue all the way to the present under the leadership of the School’s ninth Head, Matt Bradley.
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