Haddonfield Friends School is celebrating 225 years educating children prek-8th grade. The school community is pictured in a human design of 225 to show their enthusiasm of the years in education. Happy Birthday HFS!
In 1786, several members of the Religious Society of Friends inaugurated the school in order to offer academic instruction in a setting that would honor Quaker values, according to the Haddonfield Friends School website. Haddonfield Free School, as they named it, served the children of both Friends and non-Friends, and, in so doing, was the only “public” school in the borough for about 25 years.
In 1786, a one-room brick building on Haddon Avenue, adjacent to the Meeting burial ground, housed the school, according to the school’s history. Over the years this building has been greatly expanded to accommodate the growing enrollment. Additional classroom space has also been provided at the Meeting House, located on Friends Avenue directly behind the school.