At a Glance
A downtown Brooklyn Quaker high school where the IB Diploma and required service learning share the same values
Best suited for
College-bound students from values-driven families who want the IB challenge paired with required community service, in a deliberately small downtown Brooklyn setting with easy subway access.
What stands out
- Required service learning for every 11th and 12th grader makes civic engagement a diploma requirement, not an elective.
- The IB Diploma Program sits alongside a Quaker values framework, pairing international academic rigor with a faith-rooted social mission.
- Three subway lines (A/C/F, R, 2/3) are all within a 5-minute walk, making the commute easy from almost anywhere in the city.
- Visual arts, music, and dance are explicitly part of the curriculum rather than afterthoughts alongside the IB course load.
- Parent reviews repeatedly highlight small classes and individual teacher attention, consistent with a deliberately small upper school.
Things to consider
- Tuition sits at $62,750 for 2025-2026, near the top of the Brooklyn private-school range.
- This is the grades 9-12 upper school only — younger siblings would need a separate lower or middle school placement, presumably within the broader Brooklyn Friends network.
- The December 11 application deadline is earlier than many NYC private high schools, so families should plan ahead.
- The Quaker identity is real and shapes the culture, but the school welcomes non-Quaker families; families should expect silence (and a "no head of the class") ceremony, not formal religious instruction.
- Accreditation status is not listed in the data we reviewed, so families should confirm IB and any other credentials directly with the school.
Identity
Brooklyn Friends Upper School serves grades 9 through 12 as the high-school division of a Brooklyn Friends institution rooted in the Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) tradition. The school pairs the IB Diploma Program with a student-centered philosophy that emphasizes discovery, relevance, interpersonal connection, and social-emotional learning, all anchored in Quaker practice. Coeducational and college-preparatory, it blends a serious academic credential with a values-driven, service-oriented culture.
Community
Web-based parent sentiment is consistently positive, with reviewers highlighting excellent teachers, individual attention, a strong sense of safety and belonging, and notable strength in language, English, and science. We don't have detailed demographic data for the upper school, so families looking for specific community composition should ask the admissions office directly.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill area, a dense, transit-rich Brooklyn corridor. Census figures for the surrounding neighborhood show a median household income around $150,000 and roughly 73% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, alongside a 15.5% poverty rate that reflects the area's typical mix of long-time residents and newer arrivals. It's an unusually walkable pocket of Brooklyn, with major subway hubs a couple of minutes away.
Jay St-MetroTech on the A, C, F and R lines is about a 2-minute walk, and Hoyt St on the 2 and 3 is about a 5-minute walk — one of the easiest commutes from anywhere in the city.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
Parents express high satisfaction with the school. Reviewers describe the school as providing a joyful, play-based learning environment with excellent teachers who offer individual attention. Students feel a sense of safety and belonging. Notable mentions include strong language, English, and science programs.
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades 9 to 12 in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill.
- What grades does BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER serve?
- BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER?
- BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER public, charter, or private?
- BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER is a private school.
- What neighborhood is BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER in?
- BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL - UPPER is in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.