HOME > OUR SCHOOL >
From the first class of St. Michael’s graduates in 1965 to present day, our middle schoolers have been well prepared for high school, matriculating at top area secondary schools where they excel as leaders in scholarship, the arts, athletics, and service.
A Home Away from Home
These trademark strengths in academics and character that have always distinguished St. Michael’s graduates are born of the personal care afforded by small class sizes, an excellent teaching faculty, and a charming campus that is a home away from home.
In May of 2024, in recognition of our unique connection to the famed architect Josias Joesler, the Church of St. Michael and All Angels and St. Michael’s School were designated a historic site on the National Register of Historic Places.
St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and School are outstanding examples of the Pueblo Revival style as applied to religious buildings, and the Church is the only architect-designed church in the Pueblo Revival style in Tucson. In 1953, the year the original church was built, Joesler envisioned multiple phases of construction that would lead to a complete, stylistically consistent, Pueblo Revival compound centered on a second, larger church.
The original chapel and rectory opens
St. Michael’s Parish Day School is founded
Number of graduates since first 8th grade class
Founded in 1953
In 1953, the original chapel and rectory buildings for St. Michael and All Angels Church, designed by the famed Swiss-born architect Josias Joesler, opened in a Pueblo Revival style, relying entirely on mud-adobe and timber construction. Over the years, a number of improvements and expansions—carefully adapted to Joesler’s original vision—have been made to the physical campus to accommodate the School’s growing enrollment.
St. Michael’s Parish Day School was founded in 1958, five years after the formation of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, by the church’s first rector, the Reverend John Clinton Fowler. On opening day in September of 1958, thirty-four students enrolled in Kindergarten and first grade.
The Inaugural 8th Grade Class
Within five years, St. Michael’s was serving grades K-8, and its inaugural eighth-grade class graduated two years later, in 1965. To accommodate growth in the upper grades, the School completed construction of a middle-school addition in 1997.
In 2022, St. Michael’s introduced the Transitional Kindergarten program to provide a bridge between preschool and elementary school, providing students the opportunity to gain skills needed to excel in Kindergarten.
Photo: 3rd Grade class celebrating Tucson History Month.
Strong Academics
From the beginning, the School’s curriculum has been strongly academic. While our educational program is grounded in tradition, we believe that students should be exposed to a broad liberal-arts academic curriculum that includes athletics, the arts, service learning, and religious study.
The integration of modern technology as a teaching and learning tool supports the curriculum from Transitional Kindergarten through Eighth Grade.
Our Campus
St. Michael’s School is situated on a three-acre campus in east-central Tucson. A true marriage of the old and the new, the School encompasses 21 classrooms built around four traditional Spanish courtyards ornamented with fountains and native plants.
As noted above, famed Swiss-born architect Josias T. Joesler designed the original church and rectory in a Pueblo Revival style. The additions of dedicated spaces for fine arts, music, science, and technology are just some of the improvements made to our historic church and school since 1965. Other unique features of our campus include:
- Multi-Purpose Student Center, Gymnasium, and Theatre-Arts Stage, anchored by four giant cisterns which harvest 54,400 gallons of water annually for the campus’s beautiful xeriscape landscaping
- Solar Panels installed across much of the roofs and parking areas, contribute to a more efficient use of resources, support our commitment to sustainability, and generate significant financial savings
- Wetlands Area for scientific observation, artistic inspiration, and quiet reflection.
- Harold Bell Wright Park sits adjacent to our school and serves as the primary recreational space for our students. We are proud partners with the City of Tucson and embrace collaborative stewardship of this beautiful space