Westminster School is a

coed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

Pre-K through eighth grade independent school located in a residential area of

Annandale, Virginia Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.STEM education with studies in the

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. It is a part of the

Virginia Association of Independent Schools Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS) is a non-profit, voluntary membership association of schools within the state of Virginia. The VAIS is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools. Prior to its establishment in C ...

History

The school was established in 1962 by Jane Goll. Goll grew up wanting to be a teacher after being instructed in a traditional, classical education in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Her own educational background was combined with her experiences traveling throughout Europe with her husband to form an idea of how she would want to teach students. After being dissatisfied with her work in both public and private schools in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

she decided to found her own school. In 1962, Goll opened a private

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 Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

class in St. Albans Episcopal Church in Annandale, Virginia. Throughout the early years, her school grew and soon she decided to give her school a new name. Her school kept expanding and a new building and wings were created between 1970 and 2003. Goll died on September 5, 1992, and her position of Headmaster was passed on to Ellis Glover.

Campus

Academic classrooms at Westminster School include technology such as smart boards, and are furnished with "executive style" or "tablet-arm" student desks. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grade academic classrooms are grouped together along a single corridor, and joins with a 6th, 7th and 8th grade corridors. These corridors along with the central hallway, which also houses 7th and 8th classrooms, form a central courtyard with a garden. This central courtyard was constructed in the style of a classical

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

. The central hallway of the school building features "Shakespeare Windows", or mounted wooden cabinet windows that use the

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

overlay method. The creation of the windows was a joint effort between Tourne and Peter Shipman. For over five years, the graduating eighth grade class raised money in order to have a window created and donated to the school. The subject of the artwork was determined by the Shakespeare play that class performed in the seventh grade. The newest section of the school includes the music studio, art studio, gymnasium and library. The gym allows for daily physical education classes. While most of the school is located on one floor, a wheelchair lift provides access to the gymnasium. The art studio is decorated with students' class art projects. The music studio also includes space for private lessons. The windows of the library overlook wooded view and provide natural sunlight. The library's collection includes more than 25,000 books and audio-visual materials. Inside the library is an additional resource center. The school has a theater, playground, and recreational field. The theater is used for school productions that instruct students in presentation, technical aspects of the theater, and costume and set design. The playground includes climbing structures, social stations, slides, swings, and a junior-sized basketball court.

Academics

Students are taught core subjects including language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. At different times throughout their time at Westminster, students also take courses on technology and geography. It is mandatory for students to participate in physical education, visual art, music and theater classes. Throughout all grades, pre-K through 8th, students learn the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

and in their last two years at Westminster they are enrolled in a

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 ...

course. The school also emphasizes personal presentation and etiquette.

Extracurriculars

Westminster School maintains a theater program with all students at all grade levels performing in a play or

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

each year. In 1981, students from the Middle School entered into a Folger Shakespeare Theater competition, affiliated with the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...

. This has led to an annual production of a Shakespeare play by the seventh grade class. Students in the Middle and Upper Schools compete in athletic competitions with other independent schools in the Northern Virginia Region. Westminster is a part of the Capital Athletic Conference, with other institutions such as Congressional Schools of Virginia, Green Acres School, Immanuel Christian School, The Langley School, National Presbyterian School, Norwood School, St. Patrick's Episcopal School, and Woods Academy. Students also participate in community service. They have formed a "Builder's Club" that has volunteered throughout the school's neighborhood, and at organizations such as The Center for Multicultural Human Services. Westminster's Builders Club is sponsored by the

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...

organization of Fairfax. Additionally, the school sponsors a variety of clubs including Chess Club, French Club,

Odyssey of the Mind Odyssey of the Mind, abbreviated OM or OotM, is a creative problem-solving program involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined long-term problem and present their solution to t ...

Mathcounts Mathcounts, stylized as MATHCOUNTS, is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition held in various places in the United States. Its current lead sponsors are Raytheon Technologies and the U.S. Department of Defense STEM. Topics covered inc ...

, and

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...

The Griffin Academy

Westminster School is affiliated with The Griffin Academy. This

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

is for three and four-year-olds and recently relocated from St. Alban's Church in

Annandale, Virginia Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.Westminster School
Private elementary schools in Virginia Private middle schools in Virginia Private K–8 schools in the United States