The Westminster School is a private, coeducationalcollege-preparatory, boarding and day school located in Simsbury, Connecticut, United States. It accepts around 20% of applicants. The total student population is approximately 400, and includes pupils from 25 US states and 30 countries. It is a member of the Founders League, an athletic league comprising ten college preparatory boarding schools in Connecticut and one in New York.
History
Gund House, on the campus of Westminster School, is a student and faculty residence.
Westminster School was founded in 1888 as a boys' school by William Lee Cushing, a graduate of Yale University.
Girls were first admitted to the school in 1971.
Like many boarding schools, Westminster faced difficult times in the 1970s as it competed for a shrinking pool of boarding students.
When Donald Werner retired in 1993, after serving as headmaster for 21 years, he was succeeded by Graham Cole.
Significant building projects undertaken include:
Edge House. Designed by Westminster alumnus Graham Gund and built in 1996, Edge House houses 33 students and three faculty families.
Kohn Squash Pavilion. Completed in the spring of 2000, the Squash Pavilion contains eight squash courts around a stepped viewing area with natural light from skylights. The team rooms, locker rooms, and other support spaces are located on a second floor mezzanine overlooking the viewing area and squash courts below.
Sherwin Health & Athletic Center. Completed in 2003, the Sherwin Health & Athletic Center, the Hibbard Aquatic Center and the Health & Counseling Center is a multipurpose building. The Aquatic Center contains an eight lane competition pool with support facilities and a viewing area on the mezzanine floor.
Armour Academic Center. This 85,000-square-foot Center houses the Humanities, Math and Science departments, library, and administration. Building features include a centrally located atrium, two-story library, classrooms and laboratories, 120-seat lecture hall, planetarium, faculty and administrative offices, and a variety of lounge spaces.
With Cole's retirement in 2010, Westminster appointed William V.N. Philip as its eighth headmaster. Elaine B. White was appointed the ninth head of school in 2021.
Faculty and staff
Headmasters
1888–1920: William Lee Cushing
1920–1922: Lemuel Gardner Pette
1922–1936: Raymond McOrmond
1936–1956: Arthur Milliken
1956–1970: Francis Keyes
1970–1993: Donald H. Werner
1993–2010: W. Graham Cole Jr.
2010–2021: William V.N. Philip
2021–present: Elaine B. White
Theater
Each year the theater program stages three productions in the Werner Centennial Theater: one dramatic production, a musical production, and a student-directed performance.
Situated at the northeastern corner of the campus's central quadrangle, Centennial Center was upgraded in 1988 into a 30,000 square-foot building including a two-story lobby, a 400-seat, multi-use Shakespearean-style theater, music and dance studios and rehearsal room, dressing rooms, a scene shop/laboratory and other production support spaces.
