News
Shipley Sprouts Earn 1st Place in Philadelphia Flower Show Design Challenges
In its 45-year history, the Shipley Sprouts horticulture club has received countless ribbons (including many first-place Blue Ribbons) for their competitive entries of bulbs and succulent container gardens at the Philadelphia Flower Show. The Sprouts, led by advisor Sarah Sterling, have branched out in recent years to win accolades in other areas as well.
In 2020, the group entered the Garden Design Challenge, earning the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society’s “Best of Blues” for their Pocket Garden submission, Take Cover! The miniature green-roofed cabana combined principles of sustainability and engineering to achieve a creative and meaningful design addressing the impacts of climate change.
In 2021, the Sprouts took first place in the Public Garden category of the Design Challenge, which asked competitors to “Transform a harsh hell strip located along a busy street into a strip of heaven using rooted plants.” Their entry, Seeds Indeed!, featured native pollinators and a ‘Little Seed Library’ to encourage passersby to help transform other hell strips into heavenly gardens of their own. The garden design also received a Rosette from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Herb Society of America.
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In 2020, the group entered the Garden Design Challenge, earning the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society’s “Best of Blues” for their Pocket Garden submission, Take Cover! The miniature green-roofed cabana combined principles of sustainability and engineering to achieve a creative and meaningful design addressing the impacts of climate change.
In 2021, the Sprouts took first place in the Public Garden category of the Design Challenge, which asked competitors to “Transform a harsh hell strip located along a busy street into a strip of heaven using rooted plants.” Their entry, Seeds Indeed!, featured native pollinators and a ‘Little Seed Library’ to encourage passersby to help transform other hell strips into heavenly gardens of their own. The garden design also received a Rosette from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Herb Society of America.
News
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From Scribbles to Novels: Teaching Writing in the Lower School
Guided by the idea that we are all writers, teachers in Shipley’s Lower School find creative ways to impart different forms of narrative expression to the School’s youngest learners, who engage with different forms of writing across disciplines from PreK through fifth grade. Learn more about how Shipley's youngest students learn to write in a learning environment optimized for personal growth.Read More -
Learning to Code in Lower School: Developing Skills, Igniting Passions
The younger you can expose children to coding, the better, believes Lower School technology coach Debra Finger. That’s why she begins teaching students the fundamentals of coding in first grade. In addition to learning algorithmic thinking and how to solve a problem step-by-step, introducing coding at such a young age helps students build perseverance, patience, creativity, and critical thinking skills.Read More -
Serving Up Creativity in Middle School Latin
Read MoreIn Magistra Anne Smith’s class, learning Latin is as much about conjugating verbs as it is about building curiosity and creativity. The seventh grade’s Latin Cena dinner menu project perfectly encapsulates this ethos—stoking students’ curiosity through the rigorous research of ancient Latin recipes and developing their creativity through the artistic presentation of authentic Roman specialties at an imaginary dinner party. -
Upper School Philly Math League Team Finishes Season Strong
Shipley's Philly Math League team, made up of ten Upper School students, completed their season with a 6-3 record and finished second in the League standings.Read More -
Acorns To Oaks Returns!
Acorns to Oaks has been a tradition the Shipley community has celebrated for decades. Bringing together not only the oldest and youngest students in the School, but also their families and the community as a whole. After COVID forced disruptions in the traditional celebrations, families of Oaks & Acorns were invited onto campus to participate in the first Acorn & Oak festivities of the 2021-2022 school year.Read More -
Centering BIPOC Voices at Shipley: Rafhia Foster, Director of Enrollment
Rafhia Foster, Shipley's new Director of Enrollment, was the only African American girl in her class at a local independent school. As a Black, Muslim-raised Trinidadian, she brings with her to Shipley a rich tapestry of lived experiences. She knows well the feeling of not being heard or seen. Now, she embraces each opportunity to share her voice and story, bringing an effervescent spirit to Shipley's Admissions Office.Read More -
Shipley Launches DEI Family Network Affinity Groups
In fulfillment of Shipley's DEI Strategic Plan, the DEI Department launched Family Network Affinity Groups with gatherings on campus this fall. Affinity groups are a safe space for our Shipley community members who identify as Black/African Heritage; Jewish Heritage, LGBTQIA+, Latinx Heritage, and Asian & Asian Pacific-Islander Heritage to network, share, and reflect on their experiences at The Shipley School.Read More -
Spotlight on DEI in Lower School Classrooms: November 2021
Exploring and celebrating peoples' unique differences helps our youngest students learn about their own identities. Students learn to respect and appreciate differences and that they bring us together as humans. Using books and hands-on activities, teachers in our youngest grades have engaged deeply in this work, embedding this kind of learning within the academic program. Read about some of the DEI learning that has been taking place in our Lower School classrooms.Read More -
Spotlight on DEI in Middle School Classrooms: November 2021
Representation is an important aspect of building a more inclusive and equitable world. All people—especially young people—need to see themselves reflected back to them in the books they read, the historical figures they learn about, and the leaders who we try to emulate. DEI work compels us to widen our perspectives; we can only do that if we learn about them. From science to history, our Middle School students engage in this critical work all the time. Read to learn more about what they have been up to in their classes.Read More -
Spotlight on DEI in Upper School Classrooms: November 2021
In the Upper School, DEI work in the classroom becomes more complex, requiring students to think critically and engage in discussions that ask them to consider multiple perspectives, challenge commonly held notions of truth, and examine difficult questions around contemporary and historical aspects of identity, including race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, and other defining aspects. Read about some of the exciting DEI work happening in our Upper School classrooms.Read More -
What Are New Plant-based Options in the Dining Hall?
In this October 2021 article from The Beacon student newspaper, Asher Leavy explores recent updates and challenges faced by Shipley's dining services in keeping up with sustainability efforts, including expanded vegan and vegetarian offerings.Read More -
What DEI Means to Us
As part of its commitment to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community, Shipley published its DEI Strategic Plan in March 2021. Though in principle all members of our community might understand what we mean by Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, sometimes the work can seem ambiguous. We asked members of our community to reflect on what DEI means to them.Read More -
What Do You Do: Reflections of a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Director
Dr. Reginald Davenport is Shipley's new Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. During a visit to a Lower School classroom, one five-year-old student asked him: What do you do at Shipley? Though Dr. Davenport answered the question as best he could, as he reflected back on the moment, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with his response. Read this reflection to learn more about Dr. Davenport and his work at Shipley.Read More -
Shipley Field Hockey Wins 2021 Friends Schools League Championship
Shipley's Field Hockey Team, coached by Avery Safford '11, won the Friends Schools League Championship on Tuesday, November 2 beating Academy of the New Church by a score of 3-2.Read More -
"Bright Beat, Counter Fade" by Caroline Santa
"Bright Beat, Counter Fade" by Caroline Santa is on display in Shipley's Speer Gallery from October 25-December 17, 2021.Read More -
Shipley Boys' Soccer Team Wins FSL Championship
Shipley's Boys' Soccer Team, coached by Thom Schauerman, won the Friends Schools League Championship on Saturday, October 30 beating Westtown by a score of 4-1.Read More -
Shipley Kicks Off Winter Sports with New Varsity Basketball Coaches
Both new coaches, Alvin Williams heading the Boys’ Varsity Team and Kyle Adams the Girls’, arrive at Shipley with rich histories in the world of basketball.Read More -
Communicating with Empathy through Restorative Circles in Upper School English
Upper School English teacher Julia Workman was inspired by new Head of Upper School Kris Ryan’s interest in Restorative Justice and Restorative Education. With funding from Shipley, Workman attended a workshop at Bard College called “Restorative Words, Restorative Practices.” Learn more about restorative circles and how Workman is using the practice to create a more equitable, thoughtful, and inter-connected classroom.Read More -
Empowering Students through Fantasy Fiction Writing in Sixth Grade English
For Lila Corgan, teaching writing to her students is one of the best parts of being an English teacher. “My writing instruction centers around providing my students with tools to deconstruct their own thinking and organize it in cohesive ways," she says. "My hope is that kids leave my class with a greater command of the written word and thereby feel an increased sense of agency and power!” Learn about the Fantasy Fiction unit her students recently wrapped up.Read More -
From Seed to Plant: Lessons in Sustainability Start in Shipley’s Pre-K
The Pre-Kindergarten’s “From Seed to Plant” interdisciplinary spring project centered around the questions, “How Do We Take Care of Nature?” and “How Does Nature Take Care of Us?” Ecology lessons in the classroom were complemented with hands-on learning and gardening experiences in the Lower School’s courtyard and newly-installed vegetable beds.Read More
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The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.
