The Ashley Hall Spirit Store will be open this summer, providing families with the opportunity to shop for gently used uniform pieces and school merchandise. Check out the summer schedule below and visit us!

Spirit Store Sumer Schedule

Plant With a Purpose Festival
Feed the World. Heal the World. Be the World.
Tuesday, April 22

Ashley Hall is proud to present our Plant With a Purpose Festival on the perfect day of the year—Earth Day! This outdoor event will feature an amazing lineup of environmentally based businesses (many of which are female-owned!) in a farmer’s market setup. (Please see the list below to view our partner list and learn more about their business.) Students and guests are invited to visit each booth for a hands-on education experience and the opportunity to shop for unique eco-friendly items. One of Charleston’s popular food trucks will also be on site Bangin’ Vegan Eats!

EARLY SCHOOL |  April 22 is a half-day for Early School Students. Students will be served lunch as normal and must be picked up from classrooms from 11:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. There is no Extended Day or Carpool for Early School. Please join us for activities, games, and Plant With A Purpose festivities, which will continue
until 2:30 p.m.  

LOWER SCHOOL | Guests are invited to join their child at Plant With a Purpose between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Students may leave with their guests after the Festival or return to class. Carpool and Extended Day will be available.

MIDDLE SCHOOL | Guests are invited to join their child for lunch, followed by a visit to the Festival. For grades 5 and 6, lunch begins at 12 p.m.; for grades 7 and 8, it begins at 12:30 p.m. Students may leave with their guests or return to class. Carpool will be held, and Extended Day is available. RSVP here if you plan to join your child for lunch. Thank you.

Plant With a Purpose Partner List | Thank you to all!

(Click on the business to learn more. This list is subject to change.)

Ashley Hall Day of Giving
March 27, 2025

Join the many Ashley Hall families, alumnae, trustees, faculty, and friends as we unite to celebrate our School by supporting the Loyalty Fund on Giving Day 2025! Your generosity fuels each Ashley Hall student’s academic excellence and exceptional learning experiences.

Together, we can make a difference!

Ashley Hall is pleased to announce it has received a 2024 Silver InspirED School Marketers™ Brilliance Award for its 2024 Loyalty Fund video, “This is Where it All Begins.” This award is part of the only international competition that honors excellence in marketing and communications for private and independent schools.

The entries were evaluated by a volunteer panel of 72 marketing experts from across the globe, all professionals in private schools or businesses focusing on private school marketing. They were assessed on originality, persuasiveness, copy/script/dialog, visual elements, execution, and overall appeal.

The Loyalty Fund is Ashley Hall’s annual giving program. The program’s marketing campaign traditionally features a video showcasing unique storytelling and visuals explaining why financially supporting the School is essential. Of this year’s video, one judge noted, “I watched this video a couple of times, and each time, CHILLS! Its simple and brief message powerfully and clearly answers the question “Why Give?” with emotionally evocative music, videography, and language. It’s one of the best annual giving videos I’ve seen.”

To view the 2024 InspirED Brilliance Awards winners, click here.

InspirED School Marketers is a community that offers “brilliant ideas and brain food” for private school administrators globally.

Ashley Hall Giving Day Garners Record-Breaking Response

Thanks to the help of amazing parents, faculty & staff, alumnae, grandparents, and friends, Ashley Hall received 319 gifts during this year’s Giving Day. This secured an additional $60,000 in challenge gifts bringing our Giving Day total to $142,179. Our School is blown away by the generosity of this community. Thank you!

Parent Challenge Winner: PQV to Lower School families who came together to show their Panther pride. Thanks to all divisions for such a spirited day! 

This summer, 14 rising seventh-grade students from the greater Charleston area spent six weeks learning financial literacy, honing their leadership skills, and taking wellness classes designed specifically for them at Ashley Hall. It was all part of the growing middle school program at Horizons at Ashley Hall, a tuition-free, all-girls community centered program expanding educational equity in Charleston.

Not only were these seventh-graders, many of whom have been with the program every summer since its inception in 2018, the oldest students on Ashley Hall’s campus this summer, but they were the oldest in the program’s history. “It is exciting to watch our middle school program grow, and I cannot wait for the years ahead as we build out the program even more,” says Executive Director Nolie Mangan who has been with the program for three years. “This past summer, it was incredible to watch our middle school students really step into a new role within the program as mentors and leaders.”

Since its inception, Horizons at Ashley Hall, which worked with 105 students in grades 1-7 this summer, has been growing. The program launched in 2018 with thirty first- and second-graders, and it’s been adding a grade ever since. Building out a specific set of programming for middle schoolers was a natural step to be sure the needs of every student are continually being met and our students continue to be empowered, explains Mangan.

“Our middle school programming is really about providing more choice, more opportunity, more agency in their educational experience, and more exposure to different future careers and future passions,” Mangan says. Next year, the middle school program will expand to include rising eighth grade, and in 2025, the program will reach its goal and max capacity of enrolling 135 students in grades 1-9.

Here’s a snapshot of just a few of the middle school program offerings at Horizons at Ashley Hall, including extracurricular activities and courses through local partnerships:

Financial Literacy

Led by Kionnie Epps (aka The Responsible Homegirl), this class explores entrepreneurship, financial literacy skills, and even gives students the opportunity to design their own business.

Cooking and Nutrition

Rising sixth grade students explore the world of cooking during sessions led by Lowcountry Food Bank featuring core cooking skills, activities, and delicious recipes, all designed how to show how food can make us our best and healthiest selves

Women’s Health

Both rising sixth and seventh grade students take women’s health education sessions through MUSC’s Lotus Initiative. Topics include female anatomy, puberty, and the menstrual cycle. Students are free and encouraged to ask questions and leave campus with information and resources so the conversations can continue at home.

Wellness

Middle school students explore social emotional learning, mindfulness and mental health through a partnership with Empowered Family, a mental health organization in Mt. Pleasant. Empowered Family counselors and therapists are also available to all Horizons students throughout the summer who may benefit from additional one on one counseling.

Environmental Education

Rising seventh grade students dive into citizen science in their weekly class led by Coastal Expeditions. Through engaging hands-on activities, students learn about their surrounding environment and ecosystem.

Lessons in Leadership

Both rising sixth and seventh grade students took a field trip to James Island County Park Challenge Course this summer to develop leadership and teamwork skills. Rising seventh graders also left campus to participate in a mindfulness and surfing retreat at Folly Beach led by Waves 4 Women.