Upper School

Spanning five grade levels on two campuses, St. Patrick’s Upper School guides students along the path to adolescence as it develops their intellectual interests, their capacity for thought, and their academic skills. More than simply preparing students for success in high school, the Upper School program encourages students to continue to embrace learning with the enthusiasm of their younger counterparts, to recognize learning as a life-long process, and to assume increasing responsibility for their own learning.

Students in Grades 4 through 6 spend their days on St. Patrick’s main campus on Whitehaven Parkway, while Grades 7 and 8 students attend classes in their own, recently completed facility a half mile away on MacArthur Boulevard. Homerooms (Grades 4 through 6) and advisory groups (Grades 7 and 8) help to create in each student a clear sense of place within the larger institution, but students also change classes for different subjects.

With a program that expands to include humanities, foreign language, service learning, and extracurricular music and athletics, the Upper School continues to be guided by the overarching principle of Exceptional Literacy, a comprehensive approach that prepares each student “to understand and communicate effectively with others, to seek new knowledge, and to fulfill a greater sense of personal responsibility.”

While the Upper School program still recognizes and values the students’ youthfulness, it also recognizes that students in these upper grades need new challenges and must assume new responsibilities. Therefore, the Upper School introduces exciting opportunities for students to broaden their perspectives. Interscholastic competition; curriculum-based trips to destinations such as Williamsburg, New York City, and Atlanta; wilderness outings to southwestern Virginia and the Eastern Shore of Maryland; a service learning program; and an active student government allow students to learn about the world around them as well as about themselves—not only as individuals, but as members of a larger community.