Explore Westminster's Lower School, where our youngest Wildcats first connect with their love of learning, problem solving, and leadership building.
Welcome to Love Hall
Greetings from Head of Lower School Whit McKnight!
Love Hall
The Gay and Erskine Love Hall at the Irene and George Woodruff Lower School is home to our youngest Wildcats. It was opened in 1997 thanks to a generous gift from the Love Family. The joy and enthusiasm in and around the building are palpable as Lower School students embrace every opportunity to learn, explore, inquire, and play!
Love Hall is home to the Hamilton Dining Room and Auditorium, which serves students, faculty, and staff an appetizing and nutritious lunch every day. In this flexible space, students also celebrate monthly birthday parties, attend special assemblies and programs, and host music and theatre arts performances.
Learn more about the Lower School curriculum.
Smythe Gambrell Library
At 9,369 square feet, The E. Smythe Gambrell Library is the largest Lower School library in the country. It features approximately 38,500 printed materials and 1,900 audio visual materials, and an enclosed, circular storytelling room with tiered seating to provide an intimate space for classes to come together and bring stories to life.
Pre-First and First Grade Classrooms
Our pre-first and first grades are split into four classrooms per grade with two masters-level teachers in each class.
The rooms are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, where students' work is the color of the room and teachers encourage self-expression, communication, logical thinking, and problem-solving.
Days begin with Purposeful Play—a time to build, draw, create, and catch up with friends—and Morning Meeting—a classwide moment when students are invited to express emotions and share ideas.
Lower School Classrooms, the Fifth Grade & Curriculum
As our Wildcats advance in Love Hall, class sizes grow slightly in second, third, and fourth grades. Still with two teachers per class, there are four classrooms per grade with 20 students in each room. In fifth grade, students are split into six classes with 15 students each and one teacher per class.
Students take part in several long-term studies, including a living museum of historical figures, Westward Expansion, and Greek Parade, among others.
All Love Hall students participate in GOAL (Growth Opportunities for All Learners), an all-hands-on-deck model for faculty and staff to work with students in small groups based on need. This innovative use of time and talent utilizes twelve 40-minute periods over three weeks at a rate of four sessions a week, three times throughout the school year. Teachers propose GOAL courses to address learning targets for all learners. Teacher proposals and student needs are aligned, specific to the current semester data we have on student progress.
Fifth grade students take on leadership roles in Love Hall and join clubs like MentorCats, AthleticCats, and CATapult. Each group provides students with an opportunity to apply the leaderships concepts they've been learning about to areas that they're interested in and effect change both in the Lower School and outside of school.
Design Thinking Labs
In the Lower School Design Thinking labs (a.k.a. SkunkWorks), students collaborate and navigate in groups that are empowered to figure out problems instead of waiting for change. SkunkWorks labs are configured to facilitate the design process. These flexible, easy-to-rearrange spaces include rolling bins, whiteboard walls for brainstorming, cardboard and other recycled materials for prototyping, and plenty of room to move. In these rooms, students build prototypes, use 3D printers, learn to code, and more!
Lower School Science
Our Lower School students develop an increased understanding of important scientific concepts during science lessons. In this hands-on experimental environment, students make decisions and discoveries with the guidance of our science faculty.
Bible Values in the Lower School
Westminster is a Christian school and we hold a deep commitment to our Christian mission, seeking to model the scriptural description of Jesus as “growing in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). In the Lower School, all students take Bible Values, which focuses on Bible literacy and character education.
As an inclusive Christian school, Westminster honors the substance and practice of other religions and seeks to support and encourage students of all faiths, beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds. We welcome and learn from community members of many different religious traditions.
Lower School Playground
The Lower School playground opened in 2018, much to the delight of our youngest Wildcats. Portions of the playground were designed by Lower School students themselves during their Design Thinking classes! The students' research and design process involved conversations with other students, field trips, sketches, and prototypes made from clothespins and tested by user models. They met frequently with playground consultants who incorporated elements of their designs into the actual playground.
Hamilton Room
The Hamilton Room is the Lower School's multipurpose space, serving as a lunchroom as well as a gathering place for division-wide assemblies, monthly birthday parties, and parent meetings.
Our food service provider, FLIK, serves students, faculty, and staff an appetizing, nutritious lunch every day and is able to accommodate a variety of dietary needs and allergies.
Arts in the Lower School
With the guidance of the Lower School faculty, students are exposed to numerous arts opportunities from pre-first through fifth grades. Students discover the joy and satisfaction of expression through acting, performing, singing, creating, and building, solidifying the foundation for lifelong learning and a joyous passion for the arts. We believe exposure to the arts enriches and delights every child in all stages of development.
In addition to music classes and theatre arts integration, Westminster’s Lower School students have the opportunity to participate in band, chorus, and orchestra. These music groups cultivate comprehensive musicianship that culminates in numerous performances.
Learn more about visual and performing arts in the Lower School.
Lower School Gym
The Love Hall Gym is used for PE classes in the Lower School and features the basketball court flooring from the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games thanks to a generous gift from Carol and Lawrence L. Gellerstedt III '74.
In Lower School PE, all activities are inclusive for all skill levels with a focus on skill development. In third through fifth grades, students will move beyond Love Hall and utilize additional spaces on campus to participate in units on swimming, tennis, golf, and more.