Gayle Thomp­son founds the Waverly Preschool to ​“provide a stable and caring envi­ron­ment in which young chil­dren have the oppor­tu­nity to learn and grow at their own stage of development.”

Gayle founds the Waverly Elemen­tary and Middle School serving students and their fami­lies from Preschool through eighth grades. The school’s inau­gural group of 47 students and five faculty occupy the bottom floor of 67 W. Bellevue Dr.

Tim Ford, formerly a teacher at Wild­wood School, is named head of school. Tim imported both the song Roseyanna and All-School Meet­ings from his time at Wildwood.

Just under an acre of land on Pasadena Avenue is leased from Caltrans to become the Waverly Farm.

Waverly High School opens, combin­ing ​“the Waverly tradi­tion of devel­op­men­tally appro­pri­ate and expe­ri­en­tial educa­tion with a college-prepara­tory curricu­lum. Its newness is its strength. Waverly has been struc­tured to foster hands-on, indi­vid­u­al­ized, and intel­lec­tu­ally rigor­ous work from the onset.”

With the launch of the High School, Waverly opens a second campus for seventh through 12^th grades nearby on Pasadena Avenue.

Tim Ford retires, and Heidi Johnson, formerly assis­tant head of school, is named head of school.

Middle and High School students select the raven as a mascot and orange/​red and green as school colors.

The first senior class of seven students graduates.

The Middle and High School have outgrown their shared space. The Middle School moves temporar­ily to a build­ing across the street from the Elemen­tary School (now a children’s day care center) and then back to the elementary campus.

In July, the school is incor­po­rated as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) orga­ni­za­tion and legally changes its name to The Waverly School.

The new High School campus opens at 108 Waverly Dr., the product of signif­i­cant and gener­ous gifts‒of dollars, profes­sional resources, connec­tions, and expertise‒drawn from the Waverly commu­nity. Led by Board Chair and parent Charles Loveman and parent and archi­tect Jingbo Lou, the $4.3‑million project incor­po­rates the purchase of the 30,000-square-foot site adja­cent to the Elemen­tary School and place­ment and refur­bish­ment of three Victo­rian-era homes and four 1920s bunga­lows. Working with preser­va­tion­ists, city offi­cials, and commercial/​residential devel­op­ment firms, a homey, commu­nity-oriented learn­ing envi­ron­ment is created, offer­ing inti­mately sized class­rooms with natural light and a variety of outdoor gath­er­ing spaces for large and small groups while preserv­ing one of the last remnants of the neighborhood’s resi­den­tial past. It is named in honor of commu­nity members and donors Dean A. and Janice E. Scarborough.

The Middle School moves to its current loca­tion at 120 Waverly Dr., next door to the High School campus. The leased 8,500-square-foot site is reno­vated to include six class­rooms, a library, and large multi-purpose room.

Chick­ens come to roost at the farm, thanks to the senior project of Dory Bennett ​’12.

67 W. Belle­vue Drive, home to the Elemen­tary School, is purchased, paving the way for long-term sustain­abil­ity, allow­ing a signif­i­cant increase in the revenues avail­able each year for enrich­ment of programs and facil­ity improve­ments, and provid­ing valu­able property equity.

Heidi Johnson retires as head of school.

Clarke Weath­er­spoon joins Waverly as head of school.

124 Waverly Dr., a prop­erty next to the Middle School at 120 Waverly Drive, is purchased, funded almost entirely through a gener­ous gift from a Waverly parent.

Phase 1 of Middle School land­scap­ing project completed, initi­ated and funded by gifts from several Waverly families.