Westtown School

Westtown School is a Quaker, coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, 20 miles west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1799 by the Religious Society of Friends. Westtown is a Quaker school affiliated with the Friends General Conference branch of the Religious Society of Friends. The school requires all students to attend Meeting for Worship together with adults in the community who voluntarily attend (boarding students must attend Westtown Monthly Meeting on Sundays as well). Westtown uses the traditional Quaker practice of coming to unity in making some high-level decisions. Westtown has been coeducational since its 1799 founding. Westtown students come from 16 states and 13 countries. History Westtown School opened on May 6, 1799. Philadelphia Quakers founded the school after raising money to build a boarding school and purchasing land a full day's carriage ride from Philadelphia—where they could provide a "guarded education in a healthy environment" away from the secular influences of the city. For many years, Westtown was nearly self-sufficient, with the campus providing raw materials used in the construction of its buildings and food for the people who lived and worked at the school. Westtown is the oldest continuously operating co-educational boarding school in the United States.