Winchester Thurston School is an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
,
coeducational
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 ...
preparatory school located in the
Shadyside neighborhood of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
. Established in 1887, Winchester Thurston offers
PK–12 education in Lower, Middle, and Upper School. The school is a member of the Pittsburgh Consortium of Independent Schools.
History
Winchester Thurston has its origins in the founding of the
all-girls
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...
Thurston Preparatory School by Alice M. Thurston in
Shadyside in 1887. The Winchester School was founded separately, also in Shadyside, as a coeducational school 1902. The two schools merged to produce the all-girls Winchester Thurston School in 1935. The school moved to its current Shadyside campus, formerly the site of
Shady Side Academy }
Shady Side Academy is an independent preparatory school located in the Borough of Fox Chapel (suburban Pittsburgh), and in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883 as an all-male night school in the Shadyside ...
, in the fall of 1967. The school added its second Lower School campus in
Allison Park in 1988; this campus permanently closed in June 2020. Winchester Thurston became co-educational in 1991.
The school has constructed several facilities, including the Main Building in 1963, a science wing in 1987, and a new turf field called Garland Field. The school has three libraries, an art gallery, Mellon Gymnasium, an athletics hall of fame, a solarium, a learning garden, a dance studio, the Hillman Dining Hall, Lower, Middle, and Upper school science labs, and three computer labs.
Curriculum
Arts
Winchester Thurston has received
Gene Kelly Awards
The Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater, named after the actor/director Gene Kelly, are given out yearly by the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and the University of Pittsburgh. The award was founded in 1991 and celebrat ...
and nominations for their theater performances.
Extracurricular activities
Athletics
The interscholastic sports program provides Middle and Upper School students opportunities to represent WT on the Pittsburgh area's courts, tracks, and fields. WT fields athletes in crew, cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, tennis, basketball, fencing, squash, lacrosse, and track. In 2021, the Boys' Soccer team won the WPIAL and PIAA State Championships and recorded a 24-0 undefeated season.
References
External links
Official Winchester Thurston School website
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Private elementary schools in Pennsylvania
Middle schools in Pittsburgh
High schools in Pittsburgh
Educational institutions established in 1887
Educational institutions established in 1902
Educational institutions established in 1935
Private high schools in Pennsylvania
Private middle schools in Pennsylvania
Preparatory schools in Pennsylvania
1935 establishments in Pennsylvania