Mission & Approach to Learning:
The Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) is a college preparatory school that provides a unique educational environment focusing on college and career readiness while allowing all students in grades 5 through 12 to pursue music as a major subject. As a community that strives for academic and musical excellence, we are committed to the continued development of an educational environment in which all students succeed. Reflecting on our own collective knowledge and research on the best instructional practices, we will provide an educational environment that will be cooperative, interactive, rigorous in standards, and responsive to the diverse needs of learners. GAMP will:
- Involve parents, advocates for children, and concerned educators in the community in the decisions affecting the education of their children.
- Promise a culturally supportive, developmentally appropriate curriculum with adults who hold high expectations for all children.
- Provide integrated, heterogeneous, constructivist classrooms responsive to different learning styles and the multiple intelligences of children.
- Develop a wide range of supportive services that address individual student needs. Children are entitled to equal educational opportunities supported by the promise of greater resources to schools serving students that are needy.
- Influence the pursuit and use of best instructional practices by encouraging professional growth for all members of the school family.
- Mobilize our resources so that children will attend a school that is safe, attractive, and free of prejudice.
Points of Pride:
2021 National Blue Ribbon School
Featured choir at the Inauguration ceremonies of Mayor Jim Kenney at the Academy of Music (2016) and The Met Philadelphia (2020)
Performance alongside Broadway actress Idina Menzel at the National Museum of American Jewish History (2018)
Winner: • 101.1 More FM Christmas Choir Competition (2015 third place) • Grammy Signature School Enterprise Award (2015)
• Philadelphia Top Schools – Philadelphia Magazine (Fall 2011) • National Title I Award for the State of Pennsylvania from among all 501 School Districts (February 2009 – 2010) • High School City-Wide, National Academic League (April 2009)
Our small school climate provides rich academic, musical, and social experiences for all students.
Courses & Program Highlights:
Advanced Placement (AP) Courses are offered in Statistics, Literature, Language and Composition, Biology, Environmental Science, Music Theory, and US History
Honors Courses are offered in Algebra, American History, English, and Chemistry.
Students are involved in an 8-period day, allowing them to achieve graduation credits that far exceed the state mandates, as well as participate in our vast offerings of music ensembles.
Elective courses are offered on a rotating basis in Literature, Science, Technology, Social Sciences, Communications and all aspects of the school’s extensive music curriculum, including piano lab, music technology, music business, and modern music composition.