Imagine a school, where your children’s strengths are extended and used to develop and bolster their language arts challenges. Where your children receive direct instruction in the reading program they need to thrive. Imagine a school, open and connected to a global community, within which students communicate, share ideas, and complete projects with children all over the world. The Sally Borden School at Friends Academy in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts strives to accomplish this.

WELCOME to The Sally Borden School at Friends Academy. It was established in 2007 to offer a unique educational opportunity for children demonstrating average to superior cognitive abilities with language-based differences. These differences include difficulty acquiring reading, spelling, written expression, math, organizational and/or study skills due to dyslexia or a specific language disability. With the help and guidance of the Hamilton School at Wheeler in Providence, Rhode Island, The Sally Borden School serves and supports the SouthCoast area.

The Sally Borden School at Friends Academy officially opened its doors on September 4, 2008 with 5 homerooms from grades 3-7. Each year, additional homerooms will be added as appropriate. At the end of Year 5, one homeroom at each grade level (1st - 8th) will exist, with a total of 50-60 students.

Grounded in the firm conviction that each child learns differently—that one size does not fit all—the programmatic offerings at The Sally Borden School reflect the deeply-rooted belief in the need to appropriately support each child in their efforts to meet with success in school. It is the school’s belief that LD should stand for “learning diversity” not “learning disability.”

Small classes are a key to providing the direct individual instruction and small group experiences that significantly boost student skills. The Sally Borden School enables this to happen.

In The Sally Borden School, subjects such as art, music, and physical education, as well as recess, field trips, and special events are integrated with the traditional Friends Academy classroom structure and schedule, allowing for a reciprocal exchange of the educational programs and teacher interactions. A common, school-wide “Activity” period allows all students to work together on projects of their choice.

Children at The Sally Borden School who are strong in mathematics are integrated with peers in the corresponding Friends Academy grade. Students in the Friends Academy grades that would benefit from a more hands-on, multisensory approach to mathematics can be integrated into The Sally Borden School.

The Sally Borden School at Friends Academy offers many unique educational opportunities to its students. It is committed to helping students with language-based learning differences to realize their full potential. Through its distinct educational philosophy and curriculum, The Sally Borden School cultivates responsible citizenship, leadership, and respect for others, and inspires a desire for lifelong learning and personal growth.