Welcome from the Head of School
As Head of School, my favorite way to introduce new people to Grace is to share what I love about us.
Here are my top three reasons for choosing Grace Episcopal Day School:
1 I love belonging to a remarkably inclusive school community.
In 1960, the early founders of Grace, members of Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, were called to create a mission of education that would serve children from the diverse community of the greater Washington, DC area. They believed that an excellent and moral education could and should be accessible to everyone, and so they sought to establish this special community. We believe that our diversity is a key component to a more just and peaceful society. It also makes us smarter.
2I love our teachers.
Our devoted faculty inspire their students to create a life that includes a strong sense of oneself, a willingness to seek more knowledge and understanding, and a commitment to the service of others. They create a rich and engaging learning environment that invites students to think and stretch their minds further than they thought possible. And they love their students. This desire to see their students grow combined with a strong ethic of care makes for a truly wonderful learning environment.
3 I love how our students learn.
Our classrooms resemble our students’ collective imaginations, changing with the emergence of their interests and curiosity. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, we believe children have great capacity and curiosity. We believe in their innate ability to construct and co-create knowledge and understanding. This powerful image of our learners combined with a commitment to cultivating literacy and numeracy makes possible a learning environment that is courageous, compassionate, and inspiring. I am continually reminded that this culture of learning is a catalyst for lives of meaning and purpose when our graduates return to campus and share their many new discoveries and achievements.
We live our mission at Grace, and the proof is in the experiences of our students.
These are my reasons for loving Grace. As you click through our website in search of your own reasons, please make sure to click through the admission section, where you can make plans to visit our school. Being on campus allows you to experience the warmth and magic that is this community.
We look forward to welcoming you to Grace!
Jennifer S. Danish
Head of School
“To make a lovable school, industrious, inventive, liveable, documentable and communicable, a place of research, learning, re-cognition and reflection, where children, teachers and families feel well - is our point of arrival.”
Loris Malaguzzi