Wakefield High School - District (2016)

Address: 1325 S. Dinwiddie St., Arlington, VA 22206
Phone: 703-228-6700

Fax: 703-575-8832

Principal: Dr. Chris Willmore, chris.willmore@apsva.us

School hours: 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. (Early release 12:35 p.m.)

Office hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

This school is fully accredited by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Wakefield is a vibrant community of students, staff and parents working together for success. In a state-of-the-art building, Wakefield provides appropriate academic challenges to all students. Ninety-two percent of graduates continue to college, and in 2021 graduates earned almost $12 million in scholarship and grant money.

Wakefield’s initiatives for creating successful students caught the attention of President Obama who visited the school twice. In addition, Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe was so impressed with our Senior Project that in 2016 he unveiled his new diploma plan at Wakefield.

Wakefield is home to the high-school Spanish Immersion Program, and is designated by Spain’s Ministry of Education as an International Spanish Academy. Each year the Spanish Embassy recognizes all Immersion Program completers with a Certificate from the Ambassador. Wakefield also offers French, Latin, German, Mandarin, Japanese, and Arabic.

Amazon Work Space (AWS) serves as an “educational incubator,” utilizing cloud computing and various AWS and Amazon technologies. The AWS Think Big Space was named after one of Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles which states, “Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Our Advanced Placement (AP) Network encourages and prepares students to take Advanced Placement courses. Wakefield was honored with College Board’s prestigious Inspiration Award for this initiative and selected to offer their rigorous Capstone Diploma, an independent research project, typically in an area of career interest, students undertake during their senior year.

Wakefield’s signature approach to transition, The Ninth Grade Foundation for Academic Excellence, places ninth graders with a core team of content area teachers. This approach to ninth grade provides significant support for students in their first year of high school.

The Cohort and United Minority Girls programs work to support minority students in taking academically rigorous classes and successfully transitioning to college. The Cohort Program works with African-American and Hispanic males, while United Minority Girls is open to all minority females.

With strong community ties, Wakefield has several partnerships in learning. One is with Signature Theater, which allows student involvement in professional stage productions. Wakefield also partners with Urban Alliance to place selected seniors in paid internships in the area.