Buckingham Friends School announced the completion of a historic, multi-year transformation of its campus, made possible through Light the Way Forward: A Campaign for Buckingham Friends School. Guided by the School’s 2019 Strategic Plan, a comprehensive readiness study, and the 2020 Campus Facilities Plan—and designed in partnership with Centerbrook Architects & Planners of Centerbrook, CT—the project strengthens teaching and learning across all grade levels while honoring the natural, bucolic character that has defined BFS for generations.
In August 2021, the BFS Board of Trustees unanimously approved the launch of a Capital Campaign to reimagine essential academic, arts, and community spaces without drawing from tuition or operating funds. Four years later, every enhancement has been completed, representing an extraordinary achievement for the School and its community.
“We listened to our community and set campaign priorities that respond to our shared vision: to ignite a curiosity for knowledge; to support exploration and innovation; to renew and revitalize our campus and facilities; and to provide more funding for faculty salaries and student financial assistance. We are humbled and happy to have completed this work and are amazed by the spaces that truly reflect our ethos,” noted Head of School Paul Lindenmaier.
Major improvements include the renovation of the School’s historic main building, now redesigned to support flexible, light-filled learning environments ready for 21st-century teaching. Updated infrastructure supports modern technology, while the building’s warmth and character remain central to the student experience. The new gymnasium, built in place of the School’s aging original facility, now provides a professional-grade athletic space with sustainable design features, improved ventilation, and room for community events and athletic contests.
A newly constructed Science Building offers flexible laboratory space, modern equipment, and direct access to outdoor learning environments, while reflecting the School’s commitment to curiosity, exploration, and environmental stewardship. Additional enhancements include a new Bus Canopy, inspired by the form of a traditional Quaker carriage building, that ensures safe and weather-protected arrivals and departures each day.
Students also benefit from two new playgrounds—one for the Lower School and one for the Middle and Upper Schools—created with student input, and designed and constructed by Indigenous Ingenuities, based in Doylestown. The playgrounds focus on developmentally appropriate, imaginative, and joyful outdoor learning—key components of the BFS experience.
A new Community Connector and Servery now links the Gymnasium and the Arts Center, and provides a professional-grade kitchen for students and the community to use for enhanced learning and service.
The final phase of the campaign—the full renovation and expansion of the Arts Center—has created a transformed space that reflects the central role of the arts in the BFS experience. The new Arts Center features a dedicated music studio with proper acoustics and an adjacent practice and recording room; an expanded, light-filled multimedia art studio; an enhanced woodshop laboratory with improved safety features; and a renovated theater and auditorium designed to elevate performances, assemblies, and community gatherings. Together, these improvements provide a dynamic and inspiring home for the School’s signature arts program.
The extraordinary progress of BFS’s Light the Way Forward campaign reflects the generosity, vision, and commitment of the entire Buckingham Friends School community, whose collective efforts have reimagined the campus for today’s students and for generations still to come.
