Local News
Enrollment has fallen below 50 students as the private nonprofit prepares to shut its doors in 2027.
Cambridge Friends School, a Quaker pre-K–8 day school with a 65-year history, will close at the end of the next academic year after its enrollment fell to just 43 students, a 76% drop over the past decade, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“We are grateful to all the members of our community over the years — friends, teachers, parents, alums, administrators, and most of all, our students — and know that the light of Cambridge Friends is carried in each of you out into the world,” the school announced on its website.
The school wrote in the statement that it will continue to support the Quaker-based educational philosophy beyond the school.
Founded in 1961, the school describes its mission as rooted in Quaker values such as “simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship,” emphasizing social justice and educating “the whole child.”
School officials did not immediately return a request for additional information as to why the school is closing.
The school is joining an ever-growing list of private and religious schools across the region that have shut down in recent years. St. Joseph School in Medford and the K–8 MetroWest Jewish Day School in Framingham both announced they would close at the end of this year.
The Academy at Penguin Hall in Wenham closed after filing for bankruptcy in 2025. Saint Joseph Prep in Boston and Matignon High School in Cambridge both shut down in 2023, citing financial pressures and declining enrollment.
Two other Catholic high schools, Mount Alvernia in Newton and Bishop Connolly in Fall River, also announced closures in recent years.
Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.
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