Big Picture Philadelphia
What makes a BPP school special?
We individualize learning—setting each student up for success on their own terms.
Our welcoming school culture is built on authentic relationships.
ur staff, Advisors, and volunteers all approach their relationships with students as mentorships. This starts with the recognition that young people and adults both teach and learn from each other. Such an approach lays the foundation for truly authentic and meaningful relationships and a welcoming school culture.We create caring learning communities in and out of the classroom.
We believe education is relational—it’s about students’ relationship with themselves, each other, our staff and Advisors, the world around them, and the person they want to become. This is why our students go out into their communities—and why we invite the broader North Philadelphia community in. Many North Philadelphia neighborhoods have experienced disinvestment and neglect for decades—issues which have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing levels of gun violence. We believe deeply in education’s ability to disrupt these systems of racial and economic inequity.
I tell El Centro students, never say never because you don’t know what you can do. Be optimistic, open—I’m still learning and everything still feels new.
I’m grateful for what I received at El Centro.
Shahira Davis, El Centro Class of 2012, Owner and Operator Little Scholars of the Future Daycare