Explore, experience, and stretch.

See the girls in yellow wellies down by the campus creek? Those are second graders cataloguing invertebrates and plant life as part of a stream study in science class.

Here, kindergarteners are the stars of our annual Invention Convention, a design-thinking project that gives them opportunities to showcase their innovation, problem-solving, and public-speaking skills. Second graders build compound machines using engineering principles, and fourth graders independently research notable women. Welcome to Lower School, where we specialize in putting brains (and bodies) into motion. 

Private lower school outdoor learning
Private all girls elementary school VR technology
elementary school students planting flowers in the greenhouse at Agnes Irwin School

Our Philosophy

Our focus in Lower School is to educate young girls based on research and knowledge from our Center for the Advancement of Girls about how they learn best. Here, we know there is no one right way to learn — and our curriculum is designed to meet the individual needs of each student, no matter where she sits on the continuum of learning. We encourage girls to notice what's around them, and to discover all the possibilities and connections that exist in the world. When girls leave Lower School, they will be empowered to take risks and ask questions, prepared for exciting challenges that await them in Middle School.

Class Offerings Include

  • Language Arts
  • Math
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Spanish
  • Music
  • Physical Education
  • Art

Only at AIS

  • Living Leadership in the Lower School
  • Let's Care
  • iWonder Lab
  • Weekly Assemblies
    (parents welcome)

I was enchanted by the small class size and I wanted my daughter to be a name with a face. I also wanted her to have a voice, something I noticed, as I got older, always seemed to come more naturally to women who'd been educated in a single gender school. 
Parent of three current students

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