Located on a spectacular hilltop
near the village of The Plains in historic Fauquier County, Virginia, Wakefield
School was founded in 1972 in neighboring Rappahannock County.
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- See more photos of our campus in our
Campus Tour
The School’s complex and dramatic early
history included its exodus from its original campus in 1991, five challenging but
successful years in temporary facilities, and the move to our current,
permanent campus in The Plains in 1996. The changes of 1991 also resulted in the establishment of a
completely separate school, Wakefield Country Day School, which has no
affiliation with Wakefield School and which exists on the original campus in
Rappahannock County.
The transition to our permanent
campus occurred upon the completion of our first academic building, the Roberts
Building. Since that time, as
enrollment has grown to our 500-student goal, our facilities have also expanded
to accommodate both increased enrollment and programmatic growth, and to enable
the School to take advantage of both current and future technological
opportunities.
From the beginning…
When Wakefield School purchased our
campus in 1993, the farmhouse that houses our administrative offices, Archwood House, was the only building
on what was then called Archwood Farm. In 1995 and again in 2003, renovations
were done on Archwood House, to make it first a fitting home for our
Headmaster, and subsequently a functional and attractive administrative center
for the School.
Currently the Lower School
building, the Roberts Building
housed the entire academic program for all three Divisions for our first three
years in The Plains. The current Lower Gym, parking lots, and our upper
playing field, Costin Field, were
also part of that first phase of construction.
Our current Middle and Upper School building was completed in 1999, along with
improvements to circulation and parking and another athletic field, Bohn Field. Restorations were also done
on the old stone spring house and smoke house, and on the gazebo near Costin Field.
In 2002, the Arts and Music building was added to support the rapidly-developing
fine and performing arts program in the School. Designed with two goals in
mind, this classroom building will easily transition into a separate home for
the Pre-K and Kindergarten programs when a permanent fine and performing arts
building is completed that will provide a theatre and dedicated studio and
performance spaces.
By 2004 increased enrollment had
created an urgent need for additional athletic facilities. Construction was
completed on the Upper Gym at the
end of 2005. The 17,000 square foot gym boasts 9,000
square feet of maple flooring and comprises the gym, locker- and
changing-rooms, a fitness center, and a training room, as well as athletic
offices and space for concessions.
This project also included a set of tennis courts and a new Lower School
playground.
Wakefield’s largest and most
forward-reaching improvement so far is the new Library, Science, and Technology building, completed for the
beginning of the second semester, 2007. This 20,000 square foot,
two-story facility now houses Wakefield's first technologically-integrated Middle
and Upper School Library on the first floor, complete with expanded computer
laboratory, research and multi-media rooms. The top floor houses six spacious,
dedicated science laboratories/classrooms, along with prep rooms and a faculty
workroom. The completion of this
building also freed up space that was then retrofitted to create our first Dining Hall, our first Lower School Library, and our first Lower School Science Lab.
Now that this most recent
construction is complete, attention will turn to updating circulation and
parking. All of this most recent
improvement, part of the Soaring to New
Heights Capital Campaign launched in 2005, represents the first stage of a
phased program to complete the master plan of the campus.