Classes begin in rented property for 15 boys. Land is purchased in 1905 and permission to build what will become Friends Boys School is obtained in 1909.
Construction of the boys’ building is completed in 1914, but before the school can open World War I breaks out and the Friends Girls and Boys Training homes, like other foreign schools in Palestine, close for the duration of the war. The Boys School building is requisitioned first by Ottoman and then by British troops.
Friends are first encouraged to open a school for boys only four years after New England Yearly Meeting assumes responsibility for the work in Ramallah from London Yearly Meeting in 1888. A report from the Ramallah Mission to New England Yearly Meeting in 1892 notes:
Now that the people of Ramallah have seen the good effect Christianity and education is having upon their daughters, they are asking the same blessing for their sons. Often they say ‘why do you not provide a training home for our boys? Please tell them that we love our boys, too, and want them also to be treated rightly.’ How all would rejoice if in the near future we could see upon this Hill of God [the meaning of “Ramallah” in Arabic] in Bible Lands training homes for both boys and girls.
