By Wendy Greenberg
With a new leadership, the debut of an experiential program, campus enhancements, an Italian class, and the return from a trip to China, the coming year looks to be an engaging one for private and independent schools in the Princeton area.
At the French American School Princeton, which offers bilingual and bicultural education for preschool through grade 8, Fabrice Urrizalqui starts his first term as new head of school, succeeding Head of School and Founder Corinne Gьngцr, who served for more than two decades.
A dual French and American citizen, Urrizalqui spent more than 20 years at the International School of San Francisco, most recently as middle school principal and assistant head of school for French Affairs. Urrizalqui holds a Master of Education and a Master of Research in Social Sciences from the Йcole des Hautes Йtudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), and a Master of Political Science from Sciences Po Paris, and has completed the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads. Fluent in French, English, and Spanish, Urrizalqui has a passion for jazz and is an avid reader of social sciences.
At The Pennington School, which serves grades 6-12, the new Gateway Term will launch in the spring of this academic year. Then students in all grades will step away from their traditional schedules. Upper School students will develop a personal portfolio that will grow with them throughout their high school career, documenting their learning, accomplishments, and aspirations, and helping them start preparing for college by identifying and defining individual interests and academic passions. Middle School students will participate in a distinct version of Gateway called Maymester.
Physical changes are in store as well. Following commencement, work began on a new fitness center in the building formerly known as the small gym. This state-of-the-art fitness facility will serve the entire campus community with a full interior renovation, mezzanine, and all-new cardio and weight-training equipment.
Pennington’s brick entry gates to campus open onto a newly renovated Old Main plaza with enhanced lighting, signage, and landscaping. Senior bricks from the previous pathway were reinstalled, preserving a meaningful tradition. And, the Stainton Hall Lecture Center was upgraded with professional-grade lighting and sound and a control booth to enhance student performances.
Princeton Friends School, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has hired two new administrators and several new faculty. This fall the school is launching Caregiver and Child classes starting in October for ages 1-5. The program, called Forest Friends, explores ways to bring more outdoor play into family life. Morgan Silk, an educational and social-emotional learning leader and artist, leads the program with Jillian Best Adler, an early childhood expert and educator.
Princeton Day School (PDS), which serves grades pre-K to 12, will introduce in its Lower School a new literacy curriculum that organizes reading around connected texts on subjects like history, science, and social issues, to build knowledge from one grade to the next. In the early grades, the program will be paired with phonics instruction. Eighth graders will take part in a civil discourse pilot designed to strengthen listening, thoughtful disagreement, and discussion across different perspectives.
Students at PDS Upper School will have new opportunities for advanced and applied study, from AP Seminar and Molecular Biology to Financial Literacy and Interactive Media and Game Design. In early May, PDS launched a new strategic plan: Connection, Purpose, and Learning That Lasts. It focuses on learning that builds over time and carries beyond the classroom, and on creating more opportunities for students and families to connect across the school.
In late September, PDS will hold its first Fall Fest, a new all-community celebration bringing students, families, and alumni together for games, performances, athletics, student activities, food, and school spirit.
At Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, music teacher Rebecca Kim will talk about the summer trip to China she took with five students, participating in the China-U.S. Youth Music and Cultural Exchange Program. The 12-day journey through Changzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Beijing provided them an opportunity to expand their musical excellence and creativity while exploring and interacting with a different culture.
The participants at the boys Catholic school, serving junior kindergarten through grade 8, signed up as instrumentalist band members, but when a choir was needed for performances, they stepped up, said Kim. “I was proud of them. They were very flexible, and they enjoyed it.”
They joined other students from the Maryland area and they performed every day for two weeks, visiting local high schools. Kim said she would not be surprised if the students continue to connect with their newfound friends from the trip.
Princeton Junior School is introducing Italian as an after-school enrichment offering beginning at age 2, giving its youngest students an opportunity to experience a new language in a playful, engaging way.
Princeton Junior is expanding its performing arts program with a new Playwriting and Theater Workshop for students in grades 4–6, who will have the opportunity to develop their own characters and stories, write original material, and then bring their work to life through acting and performance. The workshop brings together creative thinking, collaboration, public speaking, and confident self-expression. The school serves students from early childhood to grade 6.
And, The Lawrenceville School will be preparing for change. The co-educational boarding and day school for grades 9-12 recently named Jason Robinson the Shelby Cullom Davis Class of 1926 Head of School at Lawrenceville. He will take the helm from Steve Murray when he concludes his 12-year tenure at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.
Robinson served as head of school at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., but he is no stranger to Lawrenceville. From 2007-13, he was a Lawrenceville faculty member in the history department; chair of the interdisciplinary studies program; chair of the Capstone program; and a basketball, baseball, and golf coach. Robinson, who spent five years as an administrator at Princeton Day School, also held a judicial clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, in Baltimore, Md., and practiced corporate law in Washington, D.C., before leaving the legal profession to become an educator.