Germantown Academy

About

Germantown Academy, the oldest, continuously-run nonsectarian day school in the nation, sits on 126 acres in Fort Washington, PA. GA fosters a genuine love of learning and creates an exceptional academic, artistic, athletic, and social experience for our PreK through 12th Grade students. Our Kids Teaching Kids science program, college-based Writing Center, award-winning Belfry Club (the nation's oldest, continuously-run high school drama club), school-wide community service program, and robust 6-12 athletics program that competes in the Inter-Academic Athletic League are just a few examples of how we engage students, help them find and pursue their passions, and develop leaders within an active and diverse community. At GA, our students are valued for their own unique gifts, parents are committed partners, and dedicated, talented teachers care deeply about helping each student succeed, because Anything is Possible Starting Here.

Awards or Certifications:

PAIS Accredited Member School

What is your teaching or educational philosophy?

At GA we inspire our students each day to live our school’s mission: to become independent, confident, compassionate, collaborative, and honorable individuals who will make a difference in our world. Our young scholars blossom in a community of caring adults who know them as people first. We teach them to seek genuine understanding, to treat others as they wish to be treated, and to be guided by their hearts as they pursue a life of the mind. As much as we challenge them with compelling and rigorous academics, we also challenge them to embody goodness, to embrace character, and to give of themselves generously so that they may become knowledgeable, ethical leaders who advocate for themselves, for what is right, for each other, and for others.

For more than 260 years, we have strived to bring out the best in our students, and our proud alumni/ae, leaders in their own right around the world, are living proof that our mission works. With an ideal mix of independent school excellence and creative, innovative thinking and practice, GA opens doors to new interests and opportunities, lifelong relationships, and a stellar education. In the end, however, we teach our students to find and open their own doors, to stride through them confidently, to hold them wide open for others. Around every corner of our school you will see children in the process of becoming, exploring, questioning, wondering, and growing in deep, meaningful ways – often in directions you may never have predicted had they not immersed themselves in the experiences awaiting them in our classrooms and outdoor learning spaces, on our fields and our stages. Our 126 acre campus affords us the resources necessary to help students become their best selves.

What is your mission statement?

Germantown Academy inspires students to be …

Independent in Thought
Confident in Expression
Compassionate in Spirit
Collaborative in Action
Honorable in Deed

Enrollment

1223