Waynewood Elementary School opened on September 1, 1959. During the planning and construction process, Waynewood Elementary School was known by the site name Plymouth Haven Elementary. A site name is the name school system officials use to identify a school during construction before the building is formally named by the Fairfax County School Board. The decade of the 1950s, when Waynewood Elementary School was designed and built, was a time of rapid population growth in Fairfax County. This population growth put a tremendous strain on the public school system as the number of school-age children overwhelmed available educational facilities. Because the population growth was primarily driven by the growth of the federal government, the United States Congress allocated financial aid to Fairfax County Public Schools to assist with school construction. School system records show that planning for our school began as early as March 1956 when the Fairfax County School Board applied for federal aid to build the Plymouth Haven School.

Our school was originally designed with 20 classrooms and an enrollment capacity of 600 students. The building architects, Bailey & Patton, Inc., adapted existing plans from Kent Gardens Elementary School for use on our site, so construction costs were kept to about $500,000. At its meeting on February 5, 1957, the Fairfax County School Board officially named our school Waynewood Elementary. Construction of Waynewood Elementary School progressed slowly as the School Board awaited approval of its federal grant application. Our building was ready in time for opening day on September 1, 1959 except for the cafeteria which took another week to complete. Our first addition was constructed nine years later in 1968 at a cost of just under $402,000. The addition provided rooms for music, science, and physical education.  

What is the origin of the name Waynewood?

Integration

For the first 76 years of its history, the public school system in Fairfax County was segregated by race. When Waynewood Elementary School opened in 1959 only white children from the surrounding community were admitted. At that time, African-American children from our area attended Drew-Smith Elementary School in Gum Springs. All racially segregated public schools in Fairfax County were closed at the end of the 1965-66 school year.