Student Experience

Our Tartans are known for their character, poise, thoughtfulness and integrity, and this is the most rewarding feedback we hear. Our Episcopal identity, striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human being, sets the foundation for an inclusive, welcoming community rooted in shared values and a transformative student experience that lasts a lifetime. 

At St. Margaret’s we often say that this is a place where students thrive, and we see the proof every day in their lives. St. Margaret’s students are happy, healthy, curious, eager and engaged in learning and caring for the world around them. A focus on who our students are, ethically, physically, socially and emotionally, is as intentional as the focus on their academic learning. Every student is known and loved by a unique early childhood through grade 12 community that fosters belonging, purpose, life skills, well-being and happiness. 

 

We enlist our core values of character, community, balance and breadth, high expectations, and equity and inclusion, in every aspect of our work in nurturing young people as they learn and grow. A tightly-woven student life program of leadership, service learning, spirituality, advisory, health and wellness, DEI and cultural competency work, traditions, and importantly, our Episcopal foundation are essential elements of the St. Margaret’s student experience.

Beyond the classroom, students are further encouraged to explore their own experience and areas of interest through a vibrant, close-knit community of classmates, younger and older students, caring adults and robust and authentic opportunities for personal growth. The many faculty, advisors, counselors, chaplains and coaches who are in their everyday lives creates a strong support of caring adults who know and love them, cheer for their successes and provide the support they lean on when they face challenges.

 

Our school culture, from students to adults, is welcoming, inclusive, loving and supportive where students are confident and have a sense of belonging to try new things, take risks, sometimes fail and often succeed beyond their own expectations.

 

St. Margaret’s students actively participate in a variety of experiences and traditions that provide balance and rally points to their challenging academic programs and new applications for their learning. The core of student life at St. Margaret’s, is time spent gathered together nurturing peer and student-faculty relationships, mutual trust, comfort and confidence to be themselves share their voice and try new things. Formal gatherings in the life of school include, Chapel, Middle School and Upper School Convocations, assemblies, class meetings, class retreats for fifth grade through senior year, pep rallies, dances, activities, all-school celebrations, arts performances and Tartan sporting events.

 

Students pour curiosity and commitment into service learning endeavors and peer relationships alike, and seize opportunities to develop connection and leadership through student government, clubs, affinity groups, arts productions and groups and athletic teams. Through Chapel and Advisory, they grapple with ideas and social matters, embrace diversity and paradox, deepen connections with their own beliefs, find understanding and respect for the beliefs of others and develop their empathy, voice and character.

 

Our students belong and are deeply connected. The sounds of bagpipes, a nod to our namesake St. Margaret of Scotland, dot their years as Tartans. They possess a great sense of school pride and treasure longstanding school traditions, including All-School Opening and Closing Ceremonies, St. Margaret’s Founder’s Day, Senior-Junior Candlelighting, Tartan Family BBQ, St. Margaret’s Founders Day, Tartan Faire, the Tartan Trot, grade-level retreats, Grade 8 Washington D.C. Trip, Homecoming and the culminating events of Grade 5 Recognition, Grade 8 Promotion and the Senior Class Commencement Ceremonies.

 

St. Margaret’s students are citizens, friends and Tartans, and understand and value the importance that these experiences play in their own lives.