Rydal

Learning: What we learnt was pretty easy for all subjects from my experience.Teaching: It really depends on which teacher you have. They might be extremely strict or nice and fun.Mental health and well-being: This year they have anxiety and stress programs where it helps you, I think.Special education: There was ever only one kid with special needs in my grade, but he left. This one time, he was just crying, and the teacher didn't really do anything.Safety: The teachers will do things if you speak up about it, but no one ever really did anything to me.Family engagement: They have family bingo night, Teacher-parent conferences, and many other events.

I need to get straight to the point. We pulled both of our children from this school after one year because it is a toxic, hostile, and completely incompetent environment.My son was in 4th grade (now 6th) and my daughter in kindergarten (now 2nd) when we left. Nine times out of ten, my daughter came home crying. My son came home frustrated and annoyed because the principal kept targeting him. He tried to explain he was doing his best, but the principal interrupted him and sent him straight to her office. My son was repeatedly yelled at about his grades in front of the entire class. He was not supported. He was ridiculed and humiliated as if he were failing everything. This is not teaching — it is abuse. The principal is an inhumane excuse of someone who should never run a school.If a child isn’t perfect, the principal publicly shames them instead of helping them. Students’ ideas are not allowed. Suggest anything, question anything, or try to improve anything — and you are yelled at. That is why this school cannot advance. It is outdated, rigid, and entirely self-sabotaging.I do not blame the teachers. They are good people trapped in an impossible system, trying to work under expectations that are rigid, inhumane, and unrealistic. The school nurse and vice principal are kind, but powerless under this leadership.The school has modern resources, yet the teaching feels stuck in the 1960s. Visual learners, creative thinkers, and students who need a different pace are ignored, blamed, or humiliated. My daughter told me a classmate on the autism spectrum was bullied and left out of activities — instead of support, she was yelled at.We left because our children were miserable, anxious, and discouraged. Since transferring schools, they are thriving academically and emotionally. The difference is stark.This school fails children. The principal is the reason. Nothing about this school is acceptable, and I will never forgive the way my children were treated.

As a "Lifer" alum of Abington Friends, I'm proud to say that AFS is an exceptional school, both for the quality of education provided and the individual integrity the school fosters. AFS is Quaker. Every student is approached as a unique person bearing "that of God" in them. In my life, there has been nothing more formative, nothing more powerful than having been taught by teachers for whom that belief is foundational- that I bear God's image and should be accorded respect to provide answers, not just be given them. From my first day at AFS, learning and critical thinking were always present in instruction. Instruction was always presented in the most vibrant and engaging ways to elicit response. The campus itself was a giant place to safely explore and be. Is AFS perfect? No. But, I loved going there. I always felt loved and safe and engaged. Even as an adult when I go back, I still feel loved and safe and engaged. What I learned and experienced there is lasting me a lifetime. Bonus- my teachers and classmates stay connected via social media.