Washington International School: The Language Path Matters as Much as the School

The school day

French or Spanish is the day, not a class period

In the Early Years, the target language surrounds play, and a bilingual adult team helps children understand. In Grades 1–5, students move between English and French or Spanish across subjects, on alternating instructional days.

In Grade 1, they spend roughly half of academic time in English and half in French or Spanish.

In Middle School, Dual Language students take language and literature, plus history and geography, in French or Spanish. Beginning and intermediate students take their other classes in English.

Mandarin is not a beginner pathway. It starts as a Grade 6 elective only for students already in French or Spanish Dual Language, and intermediate Mandarin applicants in Grades 7–8 are expected to remain in Dual Language French or Spanish.

WIS reports about 900 students: roughly 450 in Primary, 200 in Middle School, and 250 in Upper School.

The FAQ gives average classes of 12 in Preschool, 17 in Pre-K, 14 in Kindergarten, 16 in Grades 1–5, 14 in Middle School, and 10 in Upper School; the 2025–26 profile puts Upper School at 16, so ask for the current range by subject.

There are no uniforms, lunch is included, and every parent belongs to WISPA, the parent association.

Arts are part of the timetable. In Grades 1–5, art meets twice per ten-day cycle and music two to four times; Grades 4–5 may join after-school band or orchestra and Grades 3–5 choir without a program fee.

Middle School requires a semester of music each year and visual art through Grade 8, theater is an elective in Grades 6–10, and WIS says it stages at least four productions a year. Competitive sports begin in Grade 6.

Who can start

The route that is actually open

Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten are the clean entries: French or Spanish immersion, no prior proficiency required, for children who are three, four, or five by September 1. Each Early Years classroom has a bilingual teacher and a teaching assistant.

Grade 6 transitional students are expected to move into bilingual humanities and language study during the second semester.

• Grades 1–5: beginners may use FAL or SAL; Dual Language applicants are assessed for grade-level proficiency.
• Grade 6: beginning, transitional, and Dual Language French or Spanish are distinct academic routes.
• Grade 7: beginning French or Spanish remains listed; Grade 8 begins at intermediate proficiency.
• Grade 9: no public beginner French or Spanish route; the menu lists intermediate or advanced French and Spanish, Mandarin after about five years of study, or an approved self-taught IB language. Confirm admissibility before paying the fee.
• Grade 11: online French or Spanish ab initio may be available through Pamoja for an additional fee.
• Grade 12: the admissions page accepts a file, but the public site does not explain two-year IB transfer feasibility.

The diploma

PYP and the Diploma, not the Middle Years Programme

The IB directory dates WIS's Diploma Programme authorization to 1977 and its Primary Years Programme to 2000; it does not list the Middle Years Programme. Grades 6–10 run on WIS's own curriculum.

In Grades 11–12, a full Diploma student takes six subjects, three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level, plus Theory of Knowledge, a 4,000-word Extended Essay, and Creativity, Activity, and Service, which WIS says includes at least 60 hours of volunteer service.

Every student studies within the IB curriculum. The 2025–26 profile says 98% of the Class of 2025 was in the Diploma Program.

The website also says the DP is undertaken by all Grade 11–12 students. A small group may take another combination of IB courses and receive certificates.

University counseling starts direct course planning in Grade 10 and individual family meetings in Grade 11.

Applying

January 5 to file, June 1 to be bound

For 2027–28, the application and fee are due January 5. The fee is $75, or $25 for families who intend to seek aid.

The aid application and Parent Financial Statement are due January 15. Supporting forms are due February 1, which is also the deadline to schedule or complete the visit, interview, and WIS testing.

Decisions are scheduled for February 26, 2027. Families reply by March 12.

The enrollment contract becomes fully binding on June 1, 2027.

Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten applicants complete a five-question parent questionnaire and a roughly 60-minute small-group visit. Local children visit the Primary campus on selected winter Saturdays; non-local children may visit virtually.

A current teacher or daycare recommendation is required when the child attends a formal setting, and may be waived for a child cared for at home or by an individual caregiver. WPPSI results and additional recommendations are optional.

Grades 1–5 complete English and math testing, plus written and oral assessment in French or Spanish for a Dual Language applicant, with current and prior-year reports and one teacher recommendation.

Grades 6–12 add a student interview, a five-question applicant statement, English and math recommendations, and, for local applicants, part of a day at Tregaron with two classes, a small-group activity, and lunch. There is no parent interview in the standard process, though a parent may request one.

WIS recommends a weekly 60-minute virtual small-group information session from September through December; families who attend are invited to in-person tours from October through December. A Primary School Community Coffee is scheduled for November 14, 2026, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.

The June 1 date deserves attention. The Washington Post reported in 2025 that WIS was among regional private schools that had pursued tuition claims in court, that its contract made withdrawal financially binding after the cancellation date, and that late payments carried 24% annual interest.

WIS told the Post that litigation involved fewer than one-tenth of one percent of contracts over ten years. Read the contract and tuition-insurance terms before that date.

What you pay

The first-year number sits above the tuition line

For 2026–27, tuition is $34,315 for Preschool, $43,685 for Pre-K, $47,430 for Kindergarten, $49,930 for Grades 1–5, $55,780 for Grades 6–8, and $56,820 for Grades 9–12. Each newly enrolled Primary student pays a one-time capital levy of $2,500.

A new Middle or Upper student pays $5,000. With the levy included, before optional services, the first-year floor is $36,815 for Preschool, $46,185 for Pre-K, $49,930 for Kindergarten, $60,780 for Grade 6, and $61,820 for Grade 9.

Tuition includes lunch, books and classroom materials, most local trips, retreats, outdoor education, lab fees, production tickets, yearbook, photographs, and ID cards. Grade 12 adds an IB service and examination charge averaging about $1,100, and Grades 9–12 bring their own internet-capable device.

Preschool tuition, the new-student levy, and all three terms of published daily early-arrival and Extended Day rates come to $46,550, before enrichment, camps, insurance, or the voluntary $85 WISPA charge. Grade 6 tuition, the levy, two semesters of full after-school supervision, and round-trip Eastern Market bus service come to $70,340.

In 2026–27 a family could pay once and take a 1% tuition discount, pay in two installments, or pay ten monthly installments with a $200 surcharge. All families use FACTS.

Aid

Qualified first. Funded only if the money is there.

Admissions committees decide whether an applicant is qualified without considering need. Funds do not cover every qualified family, so the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid may then be need-sensitive in the final decision.

A qualified child may enter an aid wait pool when the funds are gone. The website's broader line that financial considerations are not an admissions factor is incomplete on its own: qualification is reviewed need-blind, but an offer can depend on available aid.

The 2026–27 brochure reports 2025–26: 146 students receiving aid, 16% of enrollment, from a budget of roughly $5.207 million. The average award was $37,000, and qualifying families paid from $1,000 to $40,000 toward tuition.

The live site says aid is available to about 15 newly admitted students in a typical year. Every aid family pays something.

All grades may apply, and families reapply annually. WIS says it intends to continue aid when need continues and deadlines are met.

An enrolled full-pay family ordinarily becomes aid-eligible later only after a new sibling enrolls or a significant, unexpected financial change.

Separated, divorced, unmarried, and remarried families should read the policy early. WIS generally asks both parents for information, may consider stepparent resources, and may impute income for voluntary unemployment or underemployment.

Support

There is a team. Some of the help is billed.

Primary School has a Student Support Team with learning specialists, English, French, and Spanish support teachers, a mathematics coordinator, and counselors, offering in-class and pull-out help and short-term counseling.

Middle School has a learning specialist and a counselor, teacher-run subject labs, supervised study, approved outside tutors, and crisis referral, with advisory and Grades 6–7 life-skills classes on an eight-day cycle.

Upper School lists a learning specialist, a school counselor, a nurse, and outside tutoring; the description thins for Grades 11–12, just as IB demand peaks.

The Good Schools Guide, after an August 2026 visit, reported four counselors and four learning specialists schoolwide: two of each in Primary, and one of each in Middle and Upper School. It described more structured support as case by case.

Tutoring that is recommended or considered necessary may be billed separately. With approval, an aid percentage may extend to Learning Lab, tutoring, a psychological evaluation, or therapy.

Getting there

The shuttle starts at age five

Primary School is at 1690 36th Street NW, between Georgetown and Glover Park. Middle and Upper School share the Tregaron campus at 3100 Macomb Street NW in Cleveland Park.

WIS calls them about ten minutes apart by car or shuttle. WIS runs an inter-campus shuttle and an Eastern Market/Capitol Hill bus.

The shuttle and the Eastern Market bus are only for children age five and older, so Preschool and most Pre-K families arrange their own transportation. Preschool through Kindergarten runs 8:50 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Grades 1–5 run 8:20 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and Grades 6–12 run 8:15 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.

For 2026–27, the inter-campus shuttle is $600 one-way or $1,200 round-trip for the year, and the Eastern Market bus is $2,400 one-way or $4,800 round-trip. The shuttle runs morning, afternoon, and evening.

The evening run is for Middle and Upper students only. Tregaron is described as a ten-minute walk from Cleveland Park Metro, and DC-resident students may use Kids Ride Free.

Primary early arrival begins at 7:00 a.m., and Primary extended care runs to 6:00 p.m. Middle School has paid supervision until 6:00. Upper School lists teams and clubs rather than general extended care.

The fee schedule charges $30 for each 15 minutes after 6:00. There is no general late bus.

WIS: which language route, what support and the real bill

At WIS the language path matters as much as the school, so ask which route is open in your child's grade and how support and aid work.