Back to School Information

Dear Grammar School Parents, 
Summer is again passing too quickly!  Carpets have been cleaned, floors have been waxed, and some rooms and teachers have new locations!  We are excited to welcome our new students and families.  We are thankful that so many of our GS faculty and staff are returning to Westminster this school year.  Please welcome these great additions to our community.

• Leslie Hollowell will work with Lisa Hilliard as an aide in 1st grade. 
   
• Elizabeth Calkins will be our aide alongside our 5th and 6th grade teachers. 
   
• Sarah Hysong will move from teaching 3rd grade to teach our third section of 4th grade. 
   
• Hannah Wolfe, who worked both in JK and aftercare will work exclusively with Mrs. Weatherly all day in JK and teach our JK WEE program.  
   

Along with our fabulous additions to our faculty and teachers transitioning grades, we have some physical movement that you will notice when you come to see us in the fall. 

• Jenny Young, our 6th grade math teacher, is now teaching in room 130 downstairs. 
   
• Sarah Hysong, our 4th grade teacher is now teaching in room 225 upstairs. 
   
• Mary Adams has just moved to room 128, one room closer to her teaching partner Mrs. Davis.  
   
• Rachel Weatherly, our 5 day a week JK teacher, has also moved one room over to room 118.
   
• In room 120, we are excited to offer a JK Discovery Room where students JK-1st can move and grow in gross motor skills and get much-needed exercise.  
   

Below is a list of some changes and additions to our GS program this year. 

• 6th will integrate Latin and spelling with Mr. Bell, continuing to focus on Latin and Greek word roots.  
   
• 6th grade joins MS choir during the school day with Mrs. Ginger Smith twice a week as their music class. They will have piano lab in 7th grade. 
   
• GS choir will still take place Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 and will now be offered to 3rd-5th students.  
• Cantabile/Assemblies will be on Wednesdays at 8:10 and we welcome you to join us as we gather to worship as a school each week. 
   
  First Day of School
  All students will come for their regularly scheduled day of school starting on Tuesday, August12.  Teachers will be in their rooms to greet students starting at 7:30. We will have a photo area set up and a coffee and doughnut truck in the back parking lot for you to purchase any morning treats to enjoy with your children prior to bringing them into the building to their classrooms. All students must be in the classrooms by 8:30 for their first day to officially begin.  Teachers will bring their classes to the back parking lot to welcome the new seniors to school at 9:00.  If you have a child in JK or K they will have WEE on their regularly scheduled day this week.  
  
  Supplies:
  Unless you opted out or are a new family who joined our community after 6/11/25, all of your child’s supplies on the list have been purchased through 1st Day School Supplies. These supplies will be in your student’s classroom on the first day of school. If you chose to opt out or have recently joined us, please drop off your labeled supplies to our main lobby by July 25th.
  
  It is a joy to be in community with you all and watch your children grow and mature in wisdom and stature and in their relationships with God and each other.  Having seen God’s faithfulness last year, we go into this new year rejoicing and confident that we will again see God’s gracious hand leading and providing for us.  I am so grateful for our faithful parents who generously and enthusiastically support our school.  New parents, we are eager for you to be a part of this special community.  We welcome you and need you! Our Westminster Parents Association (WPA) works diligently and faithfully behind the scenes to support and encourage our faculty, staff, students, and community.  You are automatically a part of this group, no joining necessary! It is a privilege and a joy to partner with you all.  May God continue to give us grace, wisdom, energy, and joy for the journey.  
  
  In Christ,
  Emily Newman 
  Head of Grammar School 
   

We hope you will find the Summer Reading Plan a useful tool for cultivating a love of good literature and for encouraging your child to read. 

1. Enjoy a book as a family! Reading aloud not only stimulates an interest in good books, but also models expressive, fluent reading. Using appropriate intonation, expression, phrasing, and pausing demonstrates that meaning is embedded in the interpretation of words and fosters comprehension.

2. Set up a daily reading time and provide age-appropriate books. You will find wonderful, graded selections on the attached recommended reading list.

3. Make frequent trips to the library!

4. Periodically have your child read aloud to you as you follow along in the text. This will help you assess your child's reading progress. Encourage your child by helping him sound out words if he begins to struggle.

5. Encourage your child in his required summer reading. Students entering grades 3-6 are required to read two books, but we hope students will read many more. You can find the packet with instructions and book lists here. If you have further questions, please email Mrs. Scott. 

25-26 School Uniform Policy

*Please note that dress uniform day is now on Wednesdays

Dear Upper School Families,

I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks and hearing about your summer adventures. Our family enjoyed a week in Costa Rica exploring the Pacific Ocean and the rainforest with my extended family. I hope your summer has been full of wonder and delight!

The summer will be one day longer this year as we will not have a half day on Monday, August 11. Rather than our typical Meet the Teacher day, we are hosting a Parent Orientation that evening from 6:00-7:30 pm, and we ask all parents to attend. This will be a time to fellowship with your child’s teachers and learn more about ways you can get involved this year. The following day, Tuesday, August 12, is our first day of school, and we’ll follow the schedule below.

First Day US Schedule
Tuesday, August 12

8:00-8:30      Breakfast for new to WA students (Meet in the main lobby)
8:30-9:00      7th-11th grade students arrive to set up lockers
9:00-9:10      Homeroom for attendance and uniform check
9:10-9:30      Senior Parade 
9:35-10:20    Student Orientation Session 1 in the sanctuary
10:25-10:40  Snack Break + finish lockers
10:45-11:30  Student Orientation Session 2 in the sanctuary 
11:35-12:45  Game + Lunch
12:50-1:35    5th Period
1:40-2:25      6th Period
2:30-3:15      7th Period 
    
On the Back to School page, you will find necessary forms for athletics and medical records as well as summer reading lists (don’t forget those annotations!), supply lists, uniform details, and the major dates calendar. As a reminder, there are some optional changes to the uniform for this year that will be required for the 2026-2027 school year. We are making these changes to better distinguish our formal dress uniform from the more casual daily uniform. We’ve also worked hard to streamline our calendar and place all assemblies on Wednesdays (with the exception of just a couple)! We hope this makes it simpler for students to remember that Wednesdays are always dress uniform days.

In an effort to increase margin in the week, we have adapted our daily schedule to provide opportunities for rest, movement, and building relationships with peers and teachers. We will walk through this new Upper School schedule with students the first week. Instead of short lunches and a rigid activity period, we’re shifting to a 70-minute block that includes lunch and gives students some flexibility in what they do. You’ll see below that Monday and Friday are focused on building community, and Tuesday and Thursday give students freedom to choose how they spend their time. Wednesday we will gather as a whole school for Cantabile to start our day, a midpoint in the week for our community to gather for singing, prayer, and Scripture.

Monday: Lunch groups with peers of the same gender and a faculty mentor. Each group can decide where they eat lunch and what they do with the rest of the time. Some weeks a portion of this time will be spent for protocol lessons, which focus on skills that let us live well with others. 
Tuesday: Flex block where students can opt to play in the gym, walk the track, study, or enjoy a quiet room or time outside.
Wednesday: All-school Cantabile first thing in the morning followed by an assembly schedule with a 30-minute lunch break. Parents are invited to join us for weekly Cantabile. 
Thursday: Flex block like Tuesday but with the additional option of participating in various extracurricular activities. (Info will be given out during the first flex block on Thur, Aug 14.)
Friday: House meetings and lunch with your house.

US student schedules will be emailed to parents and students by Friday, August 8.

I want to introduce our new US faculty. Spencer Hayes (WA alum) will be teaching 7th and 8th grade Latin and one section of 8th grade History. Rachel Lock will be teaching 7th and two sections of 9th grade Science. And Lily Wilkerson will serve as our new US Director of Academic Support. They will be at the Parent Orientation on 8/11 and look forward to meeting you! Finally, Mary Read has been here for many years, but her role is shifting. She will still teach one section of 9th Science but will also be our Director of Calling and College Process. In this new role, she will expand upon her previous college guidance role as she helps students become confident in what God is calling them to after high school.

Enjoy these last few weeks of summer, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

All the best,

Elissa Roberts
Head of Upper School

You should have received an email from Mrs. Stacy Pritchard in June with all the information you need for your student's summer reading assignments. 
If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Pritchard.

Below is a list of school supplies that Upper School students will need to have on the first day of school. Items will be broken down by class only if specifics are required. If you have questions, please contact Stacy Pritchard.

Upper School Supply Lists

25-26 School Uniform Policy

*Please note that dress uniform day is now on Wednesday

You can find our policies and procedures, as well as useful information like the dress code in our Parent-Student Handbook! 

The ‘25-’26 Major Dates Calendar can be found here. 

There will be an updated menu offered for the '25-26 school year. Please check back or watch for an announcement in The Weekly for the Belltower menu offerings and prices. 
You can view ordering instructions here. 

We have a variety of sports teams offered through our athletic department starting in 1st grade all the way through the Varsity level. Please reach out to our Athletic Director Joe Abrahams (jabrahams@wamemphis.com) if you have questions about a specific sport. Any athlete that participates in a Westminster sport must have the appropriate forms filled out, signed by a parent/medical professional, and returned to the athletic office before the applicable season begins.  Online forms are valid for one school year and medical evaluation forms must be completed on or after April 15th to be valid for the following school year. You can now access and turn in the majority of the forms using this Jot Form submission link. 

In addition to the Jot Forms above, all student athletes need a medical evaluation signed by a medical professional on file with the athletic department. 

• Medical Evaluation Form

See carpool guidelines for JK-12th, before and after school care here.

Choir
Choir auditions have been held.  If your child is in 3rd-12th grade and would like to participate in choir, but did not get a chance to audition, please email Mrs. Smith.

The choir fee for the year is $150, which is divided into $75 per semester. This fee covers music, folders, and uniforms.  Returning singers may trade their old or outgrown uniforms in to Mrs. Smith for a different size.  

Strings
We offer beginning, intermediate, and advanced strings ensembles. The advanced and intermediate ensemble members are selected by audition.  Please contact James Ryan, our director of strings, to set up an audition day/time in August.  The fee for the string ensembles is $150 per semester.  

Westminster Academy offers aftercare from 3:15-6 p.m. on all school days. 

You can find information about aftercare here, including the prepay option that includes a 20% discount.