, motto_translation = Grace and Truth , address = 75 Mapleton Road, Building Two , city =

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

, county = Mercer County , state =

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, zipcode = 08540 , country = United States , coordinates = , pushpin_map = USA New Jersey#USA New Jersey Mercer County , established = , religious_affiliation =

Nondenominational Christianity Nondenominational Christianity (or non-denominational Christianity) consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian d ...

, founders = David and Awilda Rowe, Howe and Brenda Whitman , sister_school =

Trinity Schools Trinity Schools are private Christian schools in the United States providing a classical Christian education to students in grades 7–12. They were founded by the People of Praise and are independent schools owned and operated by Trinity Schools ...

, tuition = $26,350 (Upper School for 2022-23) , type =

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, Classical Christian , grades = K- 12 , head_of_school = Howe WhitmanFaculty and Staff
Wilberforce School. Accessed February 14, 2022. , head = Karen Ristuccia , head_label = Academic Dean , head2 = , head_name2 = , accreditation =

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...

, enrollment = 191 (plus 12 in PreK, as of 2017–18)School data for Wilberforce School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed September 1, 2020. , faculty = 32 FTEs , ratio = 6:1 , us_nces_school_id = A1101562 , avg_class_size = 12 , campus_type = Suburban , campus_size = , team_name = Wolverines , newspaper = , colors = Blue and
white , communities = , website = , footnotes = The Wilberforce School is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, classical

Christian school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, serving students in

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

. Founded in 2005, the school is named in honor of

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

. The Head of School is Howe Whitman and the Academic Dean is Karen Ristuccia. The school has been accredited by the

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2015; the school's accreditation expires in May 2022.Wilberforce School (The)

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed February 14, 2022. As of the 2017–18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 316 students and 52 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 6:1. The school's student body was 68.6% (131) White, 18.8% (36) Asian, 7.3% (14) Black and 3.7% (7) Hispanic.

History

Founding

The school opened in the fall of 2005 following two years of discussion between David and Awilda Rowe and Howe and Brenda Whitman concerning educational options for their children. Initially, the school met in the Lutheran Church of the Messiah on Nassau Street in Princeton Borough with classes for kindergarten through third grade. The first head of school was Sara Capps, who had served for eleven years at the West Dallas Community School. In 2006, Wilberforce gained a new principal, Karen Ristuccia, a graduate of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with a doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Ristuccia had served for seventeen years as the head of the Westerly Learning Center, an educational ministry of Stone Hill Church of Princeton. The growth of the school, with enrollment of 28, prompted a relocation to the Princeton Church of Christ in Princeton Township, with plans for an expansion up through sixth grade.

Expansion

Having expanded up through eighth grade and with an enrollment of 114, Wilberforce moved to its third home, the former Saint Joseph's Seminary, in 2011, as part of a consortium with the French-American School of Princeton and the

American Boychoir School The American Boychoir School was a boarding/day middle school located in Princeton, New Jersey, and the home of the American Boychoir. The school originated as the Columbus Boychoir in Columbus, Ohio. In 1950, the school relocated after receiving ...

. The new campus allowed for proper athletic facilities, separate wings for the middle and lower schools. To launch a high school for the 2014–15 academic year, the school moved to new space in the Windsor Athletic Club in West Windsor Township, which provided an additional of classroom space, room for 100 more students, and access to the club's saltwater pool and full-size basketball court. The club had initially been constructed as a Jewish community center but financial troubles caused that plan to fall through, allowing Wilberforce to move into newly finished school facilities. The upper school was launched in partnership with

, with Wilberforce becoming the first Trinity Member School, licensing the Trinity curriculum and receiving ongoing training from Trinity teachers. In 2019 the school returned to the former Saint Joseph's Seminary with the renovation and long-term lease of the campus' main building.

Academics

Student body

Wilberforce is located in the greater

area. The student body is drawn from a radius, including students from

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

counties in New Jersey as well as

Bucks County Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

, Pennsylvania. The student body is 51% male and 49% female, with 6% Latino/Hispanic, 10% African American, 24% Asian American, 5% Middle Eastern American, 3% Pacific Islander American, and 51% European American students. Families are drawn from a variety of Christian denominations including

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

Messianic Jewish Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier ...

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

, and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Thirty percent of students receive financial aid. Wilberforce students have consistently ranked in the 95th percentile in math and 92nd in verbal compared to national norms. Admissions is competitive and students wear uniforms.

Educational philosophy

"The Wilberforce School was founded to provide a distinctly Christian education characterized by academic excellence and joyful discovery within a classical framework." Rhind sculpture at Princeton

Classical framework

The school emphasizes

Classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...

, including the

trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the ...

, the teaching of the

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

s, and study of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. Wilberforce applies the trivium by arguing that each academic discipline has three elements: a grammar (set of rules and vocabulary), a logic (organizing principles), and a rhetoric (discourses and applications). Each topic is taught using these three components: the factual knowledge, its interpretation, and its implications. The trivium is also used by Wilberforce to describe the developmental stages of learning. The lower school students, with their aptitude for memorization, focus on the grammar stage; the middle school, with the increased capability for abstract thought, emphasizes the logic stage; and the upper school, with greater eagerness to write and debate, enter the rhetoric stage. Wilberforce emphasizes "classic" works of art, literature, and history. The school defines a "classic" as "any work that every generation has read, studied, or cared about either because of its beauty and excellence or because of its influence and commentary on life." These works are memorized and recited in the grammar years, analyzed in the logic years, and debated in the rhetoric years. The study of the Latin language begins in Class Three (third grade) and is considered by the school to be an important tool for a number of reasons, including furthering the training of an ordered mind, providing the basis for half the words in the English language, aiding in the study of other European languages, and enabling the reading of many classic works in the original language. Charlotte Mason 1902 Frederic Yates

Joyful discovery

Wilberforce draws on the educational philosophy of

Charlotte Mason Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason (1 January 1842 – 16 January 1923) was a British educator and reformer in England at the turn of the twentieth century. She proposed to base the education of children upon a wide and liberal curriculum. She was ins ...

, who pioneered teaching methods that emphasized children's natural curiosity and delight in discovery. Mason was a classical educator from mid-nineteenth century

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

at a time, similar to the present day, when classical education emphasized highly cognitive teaching, driven by memorization and drill. She sought to avoid the tedium and exasperation that can mark overly rote educational environments by seeking to engage children's hearts and imaginations with the learning process. Some practical applications of Mason's philosophy at Wilberforce include more limited hours in the early grades, including half-day kindergarten and a half-day option on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for Classes One and Two, freeing children to spend afternoons at home and at play. In the early grades the major academic areas of reading and math are addressed in the morning when students are most alert, with the afternoons dedicated to art, music, and nature studies. Wilberforce follows Mason's emphasis on the importance of developing good habits, including kindness, diligence, attentiveness, respect, order, and follow-through. Joyful discovery is emphasized by seeking to bring history and ideas alive through works of biography, fiction, drama, art, exploration, and play that are of proven excellence and age-appropriateness. Mason further highlighted the importance of contemplative study and exploration of nature, a practice integrated into the Wilberforce curriculum. William wilberforce

Distinctively Christian

The teaching and conduct of Wilberforce is undergirded by its understanding of God as Creator and of His

saving Saving is income not spent, or deferred consumption. Methods of saving include putting money aside in, for example, a deposit account, a pension account, an investment fund, or as cash. Saving also involves reducing expenditures, such as recur ...

purposes in

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The school seeks to nurture students with a genuine love of learning who live as vibrant Christians, able to articulate and defend the Christian message with conviction, clarity, and creativity. Wilberforce teaches that all truth and beauty was created by, reflects, is sustained by, and exists for Jesus Christ. The school's curriculum is held together by an orthodox, biblical view of the world and seeks to apply biblical lessons to all aspects of life. Wilberforce teaches students that everything should be done as an act of worship to God. Students attend a weekly chapel on Friday mornings to which their family members are invited. The curriculum includes the reading, memorization, and study of

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

as well as classic hymns, poems, and writings of the Christian faith.

Athletics

Wilberforce has access to the athletic facilities of the Windsor Athletic Club, with which it shares a building, including a saltwater pool. It competes with other area private and charter schools including Stuart Country Day School, Princeton Charter School,

The Pennington School The Pennington School is a private (independent), coeducational college preparatory school for day and boarding students in sixth through twelfth grades, located in Pennington, New Jersey, a small community in the northeastern United States mid ...

, and

The Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Schoo ...

. The coaching staff includes Olympic hopeful Rebeka Stowe, and among the student athletes was Acasio Pinheiro, the

USA Track and Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

New Jersey 2015 Junior Olympic Athlete of the Year. Interscholastic sports offered include:The Wilberforce School

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

. Accessed October 20, 2020. * Fall sports: ''Boys and Girls''

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Cross-Country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

, and

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

* Winter sports: ''Boys and Girls''

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, ''Coed''

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

* Spring sports: ''Boys and Girls''

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

, ''Coed''

Track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

The girls' cross country team won the

Non-Public Group B state title at the state group meet, the first state championship in the history of the program."Tiny Wilberforce School Came Up Big This Fall As Girls’ Cross Country Won Non-Public Crown"
'' Town Topics'', December 8, 2021. Accessed February 14, 2022. "After finishing sixth in the team standings at the Mercer County Championship meet in late October at Washington Crossing Park and then placing first at Bob Kiessling Invitational in Logan Township, the girls’ squad made school history by winning the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public B Group championship meet on November 13. The Wolverines went on to place 18th at the Meet of Champions a week later."

References

External links

Official WebsiteWilberforce videos
{{authority control Christian schools in New Jersey West Windsor, New Jersey 2005 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 2005 Private high schools in Mercer County, New Jersey Private middle schools in New Jersey Private elementary schools in New Jersey Classical Christian schools Nondenominational Christian schools in the United States