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School History

St. Patrick’s was founded in 1956 as a parish day school offering, at first, classes for only six Nursery School students in Washington, DC. The addition of the elementary grades began in 1967, and the first Grade 6 class graduated in 1974. In September 2002, St. Patrick’s completed the addition of Grades 7 and 8, and the first Grade 8 class graduated in 2003.

Today, St. Patrick’s is a thriving PK-8 private school on two light-filled campuses, the Whitehaven Campus and the MacArthur Campus. A third, the Foxhall Campus, houses the Day School’s stadium and regulation-size athletic field. Other campus facilities include multiple libraries, science labs, art studios, music rooms, a gymnasium and performance center, and expansive outdoor playgrounds.
 

In September 2017, St. Patrick’s opened a 19,000-square-foot Middle School for students in Grades 6, 7, and 8. The facility is a mix of instructional spaces targeted at the particular needs of young adolescent learners.

The Day School has benefited from the committed and stable leadership of only three Heads of School for some 50 years, who have cultivated and maintained the strong tradition of academic excellence within the Episcopal tradition, influenced and contextualized by an ever-changing world. 

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School strives to create a diverse and inclusive learning community of students, faculty and staff, and parents who recognize the infinite value of every individual as a child of God. We are committed to developing character, advancing human understanding, and promoting academic excellence to shape engaged citizens who live with integrity, empathy, and purpose.

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School Heads of School

Isabelle Schuessler, 1966-1986
Robert Peterson, 1986-1994
Peter A. Barrett, 1994-2022
Jalene Spain Thomas, July 2022-Present