Since its founding in 1867 as a co-educational day school by the Religious Society of Friends, Brooklyn Friends School has encouraged and facilitated learning and personal growth within the context of a challenging academic program and a caring, nurturing community. From an initial student body of 17, the school now enrolls 700 students from Preschool through 12th grade, with a faculty and staff of 180. While the percentage of Quaker families and staff is small, the school’s Quaker heritage has remained central to its mission. The school’s longtime, continuing commitment to ethnic and racial diversity has led to BFS being recognized as one of the most diverse independent schools in the country. Students of color comprise about 37% of the total student enrollment. About 20% of the faculty and staff are of color.

Starting as a grade school, BFS added a kindergarten in 1902, a high school division in 1907, and a Preschool and Family Center in 1985 and 1992 respectively. Our most recent addition, the BFS Preschool has gained prominence as one of the city’s premier early learning centers.

The school’s original site is the landmarked Brooklyn Monthly Meeting House at 110 Schermerhorn Street, which is still used for school functions, including Quaker Meeting. BFS moved in the early 1970s to larger, more spacious quarters at 375 Pearl Street, a seven-story building which dates back to 1928 and previously housed the Brooklyn Law School.

In 2005, the school acquired the use of an additional 17,000 square feet at 55 Willoughby Street, less than two blocks away, for Upper School classes; in 2007 the Upper School began to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for juniors and seniors. The school’s facilities in downtown Brooklyn are at the crossroads of all major subway lines and several bus routes. Surrounded by municipal, judiciary and social service buildings, academic institutions, and businesses, the school is in an active, vibrant environment that encourages an appreciation of the diversity and complex activities of an urban society.