About Christchurch School
Christchurch School is an Episcopal boarding and day school for students in grades 9 through 12, located on a 125-acre waterfront campus on the Rappahannock River in Christchurch, Virginia. Founded in 1921, we serve 255 students from more than 15 states and 30 countries. Our size is intentional. Every student here is known -- by name, by their coaches, by their teachers, and by the adults who live alongside them in the dorm.
Only Christchurch ever commanded something more than mere respect — which is to say, my true and abiding affection.William Styron ’42 · Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Christchurch is built around a simple conviction: the goal of a high school education is not a diploma or a college acceptance letter — it is a larger, more capable person. Students who arrive here unsure of who they are leave with a clear sense of direction, a community of people who know them deeply, and the skills to succeed at any college, in any career, anywhere in the world.
The river is not just scenery. The Rappahannock runs through daily life at Christchurch as a classroom, a laboratory, a proving ground, and a place of quiet. It shapes what we teach and how we teach it, and there is no school in the United States that offers an environment quite like it.
What We Stand For
Character, Curiosity, Community
Character
We develop the whole person, not just the student.
Integrity, kindness, and courage of conviction are the daily standard — modeled by every adult on campus and expected of every student.
Curiosity
We teach students how to think, not what to think.
From calculus solved at the river's edge to a student-built oyster reef filtering 50 million gallons of water a day, learning here is driven by real questions and real stakes.
Community
We prepare students for a world larger than one zip code.
With students from 15 states and 14 countries living and learning together, graduates leave with a worldview no single classroom can build.