Norwood School is an independent co-educational day school in Bethesda, Maryland for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from 49 zip codes in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Norwood was founded in 1952. The school is located within the Potomac census-designated place, and it has a "Bethesda, Maryland" mailing address. The current head of school is Matthew A. Gould.
Program
In addition to core academic subjects, students take world languages (Spanish, French, Chinese, and Latin), art, music, drama, physical education, life skills, library and technology. Students in every grade level participate in at least one stage performance, including an annual fall play and spring musical for seventh and eighth graders.
Character education
Character education and service learning are integral parts of life at Norwood and have been so since the school's founding in 1952. Frances Marsh started Norwood on the very idea that a school should stand for and teach a core set of values. She felt strongly that a school has a responsibility to help students “gain an intelligent awareness of the world around them; a sense of their own worth; and a recognition of the obligation to share that worth with society and the community in which they live.” Norwood has a “Value of the Month” curriculum and begins every month with a lesson about character. The school's motto is “How you lead your life matters.” Service learning is integral to the Norwood experience at all grade levels.
Athletics
Students in grades K-6 take P.E. four times a week; fifth and sixth graders have the option to participate in interscholastic athletics in addition to their P.E. class. Seventh and eighth graders fulfill their physical education requirements by participating on an athletic team, in Norwood's outdoor education program Summit, or through other P.E. offerings such as strength and conditioning.
Campus and facilities
Norwood's 40-acre campus is located in Bethesda, Maryland at the corner of River Road and Bradley Boulevard, less than a mile from the Capital Beltway. The property features two athletic fields for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, a baseball field, softball field, a smaller soccer field for the youngest students, outdoor education ropes course, archaeological dig site, and a learning garden and pond. Buildings include: Steuart Building – lower school classrooms, tutoring rooms, math and reading classrooms, Development Office, Communications Office, Admission Office, Lower School Office. Amanda Murray Arts Center – two lower school art studios, music room and performance stage, piano and violin practice rooms, and office of learning specialist. Ewing Building – Third and Fourth-grade classrooms, science labs, head of school's office. Marsh Building – lower school classrooms, math and reading classrooms, multi-purpose gymnasium, Health Office. Middle School Building – middle school classrooms, 10,000-volume Middle School Library, two art studios, band room, chorus room, world language classroom, Middle School Office, kitchen, cafeteria, network closet, multimedia center, two science labs. Rales Athletic Center – double gymnasium, multi-purpose athletic classroom, athletic offices, locker rooms. Marriott Early Childhood Building - Pre-kindergarten through second-grade classrooms, lower school library, math specialist classroom, reading specialist classroom
History
Norwood was founded as an Episcopal parish day school. In early 1952, in response to requests from parishioners, the rector of St. John's Church, Norwood Parish, asked Frances Marsh, the director of the church's Sunday School, to start a parish primary school. The Vestry Resolution founding the parish school indicated that preference would be given to families from the Norwood Parish and then, as space was available, opportunity would be given to other church families in the community. That fall, the Norwood Parish School opened in the basement of St. John's Church with four teachers and 40 children in grades K-2. Third grade was added the following year. As a church school, it held religious services led by the rector and operated under St John's Vestry. The school prospered under Frances Marsh, though the small amount of space at St. John's limited both the possibilities for more school activities and the number of children who could attend. This led to the establishment of Norwood Inc., a non-profit corporation founded by Marsh and parents with the intention of finding a larger building.