The Shipley School is an independent pre-K–12 college preparatory school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 10 miles west-northwest of Philadelphia.

History

Hannah Shipley, Elizabeth Shipley, and Katharine Shipley, all sisters, founded The Shipley School in 1888 as a preparatory school for Bryn Mawr College, a women's college located directly across the street. The Shipley sisters were strong-willed, highly educated Quaker women who created the school to pass on their values to similarly minded young women. The school opened in the fall of 1894 with six students and nine faculty members. By the 1940s, Shipley had expanded the student body to 341 students. At this time, about half of all Upper School students were boarders hailing from all over the country and from Europe, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Latin America. During the 1970s and 1980s, Shipley discontinued its boarding department and began to admit male students. The last boarders graduated in 1982, and by 1984 the school was fully coeducational with equal numbers of girls and boys.

Campus

The Shipley School has three divisions: Lower School (pre-kindergarten through grade 5), Middle School (grades 6 through 8), and Upper School (grades 9 through 12).

Notable alumni

Heads of School