WES IS STILL ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2025-2026 SCHOOL YEAR IN A FEW GRADES. CONTACT THE ADMISSION OFFICE (admissions@w-e-s.org) WITH INTEREST.
As an Episcopal school, WES reflects and practices the inclusive vision of the Episcopal Church, which celebrates the diversity of our world and commits itself to the pursuit of peace and justice for all people.
At WES we live this out by centering values and spiritual wellness throughout our community life. We come together as a community for Chapel, and students in Grades 1-8 learn about the Bible, global faith practices, and ethics in Religion class. Our religious identity also propels our work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and our Department of Spiritual and Cultural Learning oversees religious life, DEIB, and service learning at WES.
WES celebrates the religious diversity of our community — and there is plenty of that diversity!
At WES we have many families from a range of religious traditions and some with no religious tradition at all. Roughly half of our families practice some form of Christianity, and half are part of another tradition or are non-religious or non-practicing. In the words of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, “Episcopal schools invite all who attend and work in them—Episcopalians and non-Episcopalians, Christians and non-Christians, people of no faith tradition—both to seek clarity about their own beliefs and religions and to honor those traditions more fully and faithfully in their own lives.” Whatever your family’s spiritual tradition, your child will be welcome and celebrated at WES.
We are also a supportive and happy home for LGBTQIA+ families. The Episcopal Church celebrates and supports diversity of gender and sexual orientation — and WES does too.
Beginning in Grade 1, students take Religion as one of their special subjects. Throughout their time at WES, students will have the opportunity to learn about the many faiths practiced throughout the world, major characters and stories from both the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament, and how these religions and stories endorse love and justice in the world.
In Grades 7 and 8, students engage in a two-year Ethics sequence, in which they are encouraged to apply what they’ve learned in earlier years and develop a personal moral code to help them navigate the years ahead. Each spring, our Grade 8 students can be found teaching our younger Dragons how to practice kindness as part of their student-designed Ethics capstone projects.
All WES students attend our weekly Chapels with their class. Modeled after Episcopal liturgies, they are designed to be developmentally appropriate and inclusive of the many religious traditions represented in our community.
We begin with a song and a prayer, read a Bible story, hear a Chapel talk highlighting a value we can practice in our own lives, offer prayers in a call-and-response format, and conclude with a blessing and a song. Songs and prayers vary throughout the year as we honor the themes of the Christian liturgical seasons. Several times a year, students hear Chapel talks from guest speakers who share from their own faith perspective or tell students about the important justice work of service organizations in our community.
Our Early Childhood Chapel for Grades PK3-1 follows a similar format, though with simpler language and more incorporated movement.
