Wakefield High School

1325 S. Dinwiddie Street

School District

Arlington County Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

School Map for Arlington County Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by other on May 30, 2024

I loved my time at this school. I graduated in 2015 and I learned so much here. My teachers taught me more than just classes, they prepared me for college and beyond. They were great all-around people and role models. I felt like even when taking AP classes my mental health was still a priority here, and work/ life balance was important. My coaches knew how important sports were to mental and physical health and encouraged us to work thorugh our school challenges on the turf field or on the track etc. Overall, a great school, incredibly diverse, taught me a lot, teachers that care, and a community of warriors.
Submitted by parent on January 27, 2022

W school. this school is so epic bro.
Submitted by other on May 15, 2021

Wakefield is one of the worst schools for students. They overwork students and expectations are set to the absolute max. They don’t care about your mental health and will claim how they have all these procedures set in place when they don’t follow it whatsoever. Graduation requirements are absolutely unrealistic and will have you be doing 7 core classes every year. You have to FIGHT to get elective courses. Some of the teachers are nice but a good handful of them aren’t good at teaching, are mean to students, and won’t accommodate for your other classes. They wanna claim that teachers work together so students aren’t overloaded but that is completely false. They want to sell you this dream school but in reality all they care about is looking good on paper. Sure a lot of the students take ap classes but those same students are struggling to keep themselves together. If you choose to send your student here, don’t fall for all the lies and just make sure to take it easy on them. Wakefield, get it together.
Submitted by student on April 18, 2021

This school is the top of the crop of what Arlington Public Schools has to offer. There is the least amount of elitism and the most amount of diversity. Each teacher has been compassionate and understanding to all students who are well behaved. The administrative staff are excellent. Any negative review that is made about this school is either rooted in racism, social-class bigotry, or by a rival high school. This school should be rated as the best high school in Arlington. The only thing that is mildly questionable is some counselors, however the college and equity and achievement counselors are beyond excellent. What this school may lack in quality counselors, they make up for in teachers, assistant principals, and the platform for a community that the school provides.
Submitted by parent on January 08, 2019

Overall it’s a great experience. From the principal to the teachers everyone wants to see the students succeed in life
Submitted by parent on October 05, 2018

It is an honor to be a parent of the Wakefield High School Senior! I really appreciate dedication and effort of the faculty and staff. Special THANK YOU to his School Counselor.
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2018

My children have had an extraordinary experience at Wakefield. Take the greatschools rating with a grain of salt. It is the diversity of the student body and the awesome staff that make Wakefield a wonderful place to go to school.
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2017

I was worried about Wakefield because of the lower ranking (beware of the trolls) but the school has been nothing but outstanding. First, the facility is brand new and makes for an excellent learning environment. The staff and faculty are outstanding and responsive. The curricular choices prepare students for college. Numerous extra curricular opportunities from sports to academic choices are available for students to take advantage of if they choose to do so. As any school, it takes a village to support the student and it starts at home--you will receive the support you need from the school! So many of the graduating seniors have gone to Ivy league and highly ranked colleges. Parents need to make sure they support their child--be involved and know who their child's friends are and if you don't get to know their friends and parents. If you start seeing issues with your child, talk to the teacher. The teachers will tell you. We love Wakefield!
Submitted by parent on April 07, 2017

Dedication and commitment are the standard at Wakefield. From the Principal to the Janitors. Everyone is respectful and students are expected to give their best to ever task.
Submitted by parent on February 23, 2017

I am a parent of a Wakefield student, and we could not be happier with her academic, athletic, and social experience. Thanks in large part to outstanding teachers, she is excelling despite an incredibly rigorous freshman course load, including AP World History, Trigonometry, and other intensified courses. The Wakefield athletic experience has been equally rewarding, both as a participant and spectator. The varsity basketball team just won its fourth consecutive basketball conference championship on a buzzer beater, followed by the student body rushing the court in celebration. And her social life has never been better. She has developed strong friendships with a great group of Wakefield students, each of whom is smart, caring, funny, and mature enough to enjoy speaking with other parents. In short, Wakefield has exceeded all expectations!
Submitted by parent on January 11, 2017

As with every high school, it is what you make it. My oldest son graduated last year and as a military child, he has experienced many, many different schools and he loved Wakefield. It very diverse, as is Arlington. My oldest is a leader by nature, not a follower, he has his values in check, and there is little anyone can do that would have him to deviate from that. With that said, his friends are/were similar to him and he did well socially and academically there. I do have another son and my oldest told me not to send him to Wakefield because he is not, by nature, a leader and could easily fall into a "not so ideal" group, which are present EVERYWHERE. With my oldest advice, my youngest does not go there. It's that simple. Parents need to know their kids and stop looking at the outside influences for reasons/excuses as to why our children aren't succeeding . It starts at home and not when he or she hits puberty and starts doing things we don't like. It starts as soon as they come into our lives.
Submitted by other on January 04, 2017

Being a transfer student at from half a world away, facing all those cultural differences and having no idea how the US education system works, not even mentioning language problems, I should be the last person whom you expect to be writing a review. Yet, having a chance to be here at Wakefield is indeed a life changing experience. Knowing about the school's through president Obama's speech in 2009, as a young, Vietnamese 5th-grader, I got the impression that Wakefield is an amazing school, a school that is recognized nationally. 5 years later from then, coincidentally, I have the chance to attend that high school as an international student and having the experience I could never ever dreamt about before. Not as I expected, Wakefield is not where unicorns and angels fly in the sky and everything is not pink. I freaked out, stepping in the building on the first day of school, I was terrified, worried and nervous. Being new to the school and the country, how can I probably fit in, and the most important thing, how the hell can I study when everything is in English? Magically, I did. The teachers were very understanding, not only they respect my background, they also understand my struggles. Who could ever imagine a US-VA history teacher that won't assume you know who George Washington is, a Pre-Calculus Intensified teacher that won't assume you know what is a TI-84 calculator, a Physics teacher who says that your English is ridiculous and you should be in AP Physics instead of Physics Intensified, a German teacher teaching you how to celebrate Thanksgiving, an English teacher who gives you a perfect recommendation letter even when you work extremely slow because she knows you're trying your best and last but not least, an incredible Sociology teacher who grades your efforts over the quality of your work. My life has totally transformed to a whole new level while being here at Wakefield as I discovered a lot more about the world, its diversity, myself and especially, the values of the United States of America and its people. I realized that unicorns and angels don't fly, they walk, ride bikes, drive cars and ride the school bus instead. I realized everything is not pink but green and white. Wakefield is an amazing community that helps students develop their perfectly imperfect personalities, and you must be an idiot if you're not realizing that.
Submitted by other on October 06, 2016

From the principal to staff, the adults are generally positive, responsive, respectful, caring, and dedicated. The diversity of the school and the inclusiveness of students is exceptional. It isn't perfect but the culture of the school is strong and allows each student to succeed and many thrive.
Submitted by parent on July 21, 2015

It seems that people like to write reviews when and only when they have a problem with the school. Wakefield High School is one of the best high school's in the county. The teacher's care, and are highly responsive. I've had two children go through this high school. One of them is off to an ivy league law school, and the other is doing pre med at VCU. There's now way they could've been successful without the teacher's and faculty there. In all honesty, this school gets a bad rep because of it's large diversity and location. While their music programs and other programs do need reformation, this school is fantastic. Not only have the greatly improved in their academics, but they've hired some of the best teachers in the county. Washington Lee and Yorktown are good schools too, but there's something special about Wakefield. It's the reason why President Obama and many other dignitaries have visited on multiple occasions. This reason being that Wakefield has character and heart, (which seems to be lacking from the cookie cutter schools of North Arlington). Please seriously consider Wakefield as a choice for your son or daughter. They produce success stories, especially for those students who never felt they had a voice.
Submitted by student on April 24, 2015

This school is a joke. This school does not care about it's students. It is a numbers game at this school. You are not important, you are a number they are just trying to push you to graduate and get you out anyway possible. Expectations are at all time low. Very little involvement or care for student activities, well being and success both in and beyond school. Big reform at this school needs to happen.
Submitted by parent on February 13, 2015

This is a horrible school. I am surprised it gets 4 stars here. After two years, we finally had our son transferred. I knew the school had poor reputation, but I used to think how bad can it be? New, fancy building, AP classes... I was wrong. It is worse than one can imagine. A teacher tells the class that they are free to do anything they want, because they are losers anyway, and 'works' on his computer. School principal is one big disappointment. I wish I took serious bad reviews from the very beginning. My piece of advise to parents - If you love your kid, stay away from Wakefield High School.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2015

we just moved here from NC . beautiful high school . newly renovated. good teachers . smart board in each classroom. very happy with academic program . son is in advanced classes. very friendly
Submitted by parent on October 02, 2014

This is a wonderful school. There are many cultural and economical differences in the school, so that the children see the reflection of America as it is. Opportunities abound for students to choose career paths and college level course work. Arlington is lucky to have it.
Submitted by parent on September 03, 2014

After tutoring a student at this school observed that his English skills and math skills were below average from 9-12. It was amazing how his teachers kept pushing him through with "A" grades.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2014

My child has had an IEP since the seventh grade. After years of watching him struggle and trying to desparately to effectively collaborate with teachers and staff I came to the conclusion that the IEP was not worth the paper it was printed on and didn't provide any benefit to my son. While my experience was primarily limited to Wakefield the actual problem was with the Arlington Public School (APS) Special Education process. The particularly areas of weakness are Implmentation, teacher accountability, data collection and analysis strategy (undefined and poorly executed), progress monitoring, and progress tracking. The lack of defined process and procedures made it overly easy for the teachers and staff to be non-responsive and insensitive to the needs of the student, my child. My son is graduating this year. In restrospect I think that I did him a disservice and injustice by allowing him to be labeled as a Student With a Disability or Special Needs student.