The Arts

An Important and Integral Area of Learning

At West Chester Friends School, the arts are not an extracurricular! Instead, music, visual art, and theater are important areas of learning, joyfully integrated into the enriched education provided to every student from preschool through fifth grade. 

Students learn to play band instruments, to write and perform plays, and, of course, to sing, play, and perform songs from a variety of genres and cultures. Lessons are regularly taught in rhythm, theory, notation, composition, and music history, and students in third grade may begin to participate in the WCFS Chorale and Band.

Many WCFS students and alumni perform with local musical organizations and theaters, including the Kennett Symphony Children’s Choir, Philadelphia Boys Choir, Philadelphia Girls Choir, Media Theater, and Walnut Street Theater. Students have opportunities to perform in classroom and Drama Club plays, and as fifth graders, in an annual  Shakespeare work. including The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night. In May, Evening of the Arts, an annual springtime celebration, features student art and musical performances from corner to corner on the WCFS campus.

West Chester Friends School’s artistic history is deeply rooted in Chester County. Composer Samuel Barber began his elementary education at WCFS.  Several Wyeth family members, including Henriette, Carolyn, and Ann, attended WCFS, as did revered painters Philip Jamison and John Supplee. Artists Bill Freeland and Dennis Haggerty were beloved art teachers at WCFS for many decades as well.

At West Chester Friends School, students are provided opportunities throughout their school years for music and theater study, growth, and performance, as well as for collaborative art exploration in a variety of media.