St. Anselm's Abbey School
St. Anselm's Abbey School is a private, Roman Catholic, all-boys prep school for grades 6 through 12. It is run by Benedictine monks of St. Anselm's Abbey and sits on about 40 acres in the Michigan Park area of Northeast Washington, D.C. The school began in 1942 as the Priory School and was renamed St. Anselm's Abbey School in 1961 when the monastery became an abbey. A 6th grade (Form A) was added in 1990, and in 2003 the school opened a large athletic and performing arts complex.
The school requires an entrance exam for admission. It offers a challenging curriculum with 26 Advanced Placement courses. In recent years, about one-third of graduates earned National Merit recognition, and the average SAT score has been around 1395. In 2025, 84% of graduates earned AP Scholar honors. Every student who has graduated from St. Anselm's has gone on to a four-year college or university.
Class sizes are small, typically 10–20 students, with a student-to-faculty ratio of about 6:1. Upper-level classes and graduating classes are especially small, with many graduating classes around 40 students or fewer. The curriculum emphasizes the classics: six years of science, four years of a spoken language (French, Spanish, or Arabic), and four years of Latin. Ancient Greek is offered as an upper-school elective, and theology is required each year.
St. Anselm's is accredited by the Middle States Association and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools. The school has a strong college-prep focus, and graduates have attended universities such as Boston College, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, and the College of William & Mary.
The campus includes the monastic building, an academic building, and an athletics/performing arts complex, plus tennis courts, athletic fields, and woodland areas. In 2008 the school expanded with a new entrance, a renovated science area, and upgraded classrooms and technology. The school publishes The Priory Press (high school newspaper) and The Priory Perspective (yearbook); the middle school has The Panther newspaper.
St. Anselm's competes in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference and has won many championships in sports. The school is known for its long-running St. Anselm's Invitational basketball tournament. The motto is Pax in Sapientia (Peace in wisdom), and the school colors are maroon and silver. The headmaster is John Corrigan, and the chaplain is Fr. Samuel Springuel, OSB. Tuition ranges from about $35,400 to $36,400.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:14 (CET).