For more than 130 years, Walford has invited students of all backgrounds into a warm and intellectually rigorous community shaped by strong values. Since our founding in 1893, and formal affiliation with the Anglican Church in 1955, Walford has welcomed families of all faiths, or no faith, and offered an inclusive education that cultivates character, community, and compassion in every student.

The Benefits of an Anglican School

Participation in spiritual reflection and faith-based communities has been found to bolster happiness, health, resilience and life satisfaction. It provides social connection, a sense of belonging, and a genuine foundation for living a principled life of meaning and purpose. Anglican identity encourages students to ask difficult questions, to think deeply about faith and life, and to respond with courage when called to serve others. It guides us in living out the School motto Virtute et Veritate - 'with moral courage and truth'.

Our Anglican identity supports members of our community to belong to a safe and grounded environment in which students learn the value of those things that modern psychology recognises as vital to human flourishing: gratitude, hope, kindness, service, and community. It provides stability at times of instability, engaging students, families, staff and old scholars in making meaning, together, through the ups and downs of life. It provides a safe space to experience times of uncertainty and struggle. It gives us a home in which to pray, ponder, lament, grieve, and express fear, helplessness or joy. Comfort, help and hope are found when we place the stories of our faith alongside the stories of events in the world. The sense of not being alone in the face of struggle is deeply helpful to the wellbeing of students and their families.

The Spiritual Life of the School

Anglican identity is offered to our community in a way that is invitational and participatory. Spiritual life at Walford includes regular Chapel services, led by our School Chaplain, Reverend Michael Lane, in the peaceful setting of the School’s Saint Elizabeth Chapel. Students participate in age-appropriate worship services, hymns, and prayers during assemblies, and staff begin each term with a Chapel service. Special services, including those shared with other Anglican schools and old scholars, strengthen a sense of belonging beyond our grounds and across generations.

Beyond Chapel, service is experienced at the heart of student life, from the annual Student Council Lent Campaign to regular partnerships with Anglicare, Catherine House, Kickstart for Kids, and the Magdalene Centre. Students and staff are offered the opportunity to experience Anglican identity in partnership with Anglican schools around South Australia and nationally, as part of the wider Australian Anglican schools community.