First here,
then anywhere
Washington Episcopal School 2028 Strategic Plan
Since its founding in 1986, Washington Episcopal School’s mission has been to:
Inspire academic and personal excellence within a joyful learning environment to develop students who are kind, confident, and prepared.
At WES, we strive to develop the whole child, nurturing students’ intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual development — providing the foundation for students to stride confidently into the world, delight in it, and contribute to it.
The world our students are striding into presents new challenges and opportunities shaped by technological innovations, greater interconnectivity, and rising polarization. Traditional competencies, while important, are no longer enough. As the world changes and students enter increasingly global learning environments, they will need to draw upon a solid academic foundation to build real-world solutions to evolving challenges while working in teams of people with entirely different backgrounds, values, and ways of thinking. Success will require leadership skills, personal confidence, resilience, and compassion —qualities that will help students remain happy, healthy, and grounded.
This strategic plan builds on WES’s tradition of experiential education, strong academics, and joyful learning. We embrace our Episcopal identity as an inclusive community of love and acceptance that is safe for all students, families, faculty, and staff. Consistent with WES’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, students will be exposed to both the challenges of working across differences and the success possible when people with diverse perspectives collaborate to discover innovative solutions to real-world problems. This approach will ensure that WES students are taught how to think and not what to think.
Through a future-focused program combining traditional academic rigor with real-world application, WES graduates will enter high school ready to thrive and take on any challenge.
Strategic
Priorities
This plan identifies five strategic priorities that will ensure WES furthers its mission and vision, providing students with a broad and deep educational foundation that will prepare them for an ever-changing world.
A Special Thanks to Our Community
This strategic plan began with the insight and hard work of the WES community — the wisdom and dreams of students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and past parents. The plan is the culmination of nearly a year of conversation, reflection, and careful thinking.
We are especially grateful to the 130 community members who participated in empathy interviews, the 85 participants in the Faculty Think Tank, the 30 participants in the Parent Think Tanks, and the 65 participants in our Community Day. We are also thankful for the members of our Strategic Planning and Steering Committees and the various task forces who invested their time, energy, and talents to ensure that the hopes and dreams of our community are reflected in a clear, concise, and well-articulated plan. It is thanks to each of these individuals that this plan reflects the ideas, feedback, concerns, and hopes of the whole community.
Just as this plan demonstrates our intent for our students who begin here to be prepared to thrive anywhere they may go in the future, we know that the strengths and opportunities identified here by our community during this strategic planning process will prepare WES to thrive as we move forward into our future together.
Vision
Statement
Washington Episcopal School students stride confidently into the world, delight in it, and contribute to it.
Mission
Statement
Washington Episcopal School inspires academic and personal excellence within a joyful learning environment to develop students who are kind, confident, and prepared.
Portrait of a
WES Graduate
Kind
WES graduates have a moral and ethical compass. They exhibit compassion and respect.
Confident
WES graduates know themselves as learners, are self-advocates, and are comfortable in their own skin. They take risks and exhibit grit, leadership, and citizenship.
Prepared
WES graduates are balanced, have strong academic skills, and can think critically and creatively. They are global and responsible citizens who positively engage with their community.
