Spartanburg Day School was established on September 12, 1957 at the Drayton MillCommunity Building, with 35 students in 1st–5th grades. As more upper-level grades were needed, a new location for SDS was established on Skylyn Drive, where the school is currently located. In October 1962, the new campus was officially opened. The lower school did not move to the current campus until 1993. When the families of foreign expatriates began moving to the Greenville-Spartanburg area in the 20th century, most of the children attended Spartanburg Country Day School.
Spartanburg Day School provides students with a number of after-school programs throughout the year.
Fall Festival
The activities at the Fall Festival are aimed towards lower school students, although all students are welcome to attend. Games and prizes motivate the students to come. Juniors are required to attend Fall Festival because it is a main fundraiser for the Junior-Senior prom.
Special studies
Beginning in 1996, one week out of every year in March, upper school students are able to "engage in a non-traditional learning activity". Examples of special studies activities include trips to Puerto Rico, Italy, and Toronto, and working with Habitat for Humanity. Activities located on campus include Independent Women, The Art of Movies, and Photoshop. Each student is required to either attend a special studies activity or come up with their own.
Bands
Spartanburg Day School currently has five bands, all directed by Dick Barnes. He also teaches ballroom dance to the 6th grade and teaches the 5th grade to play the recorder. The bands are the Middle School Concert Band, the Middle School Honor Band, the Middle School Jazz Band, the Upper School Band, the Upper School Jazz Band. Several of these require an audition, but not all. The bands have done consistently well at all-state festivals. The High school Jazz band has earned Superiors at the past seven state festivals. Recently, The Highschool Jass band and Concert band have won the grand champion awards at both the Orlando festival event and the Virginia Festival event competing against Hundreds of other schools from across the nation. On March 3, 2007, the Middle School Jazz Band earned a Superior at the State Jazz festival. This was the first time the Middle School had ever earned a Superior at any state festival. The SDS Middle School Honors Band was awarded the Outstanding Performance Award in the spring of 2007 after receiving enough Superiors at the state Solo and Ensemble festival. In 2009, all 6th-grade students signed up for Beginning Band, even though the course was completely optional.
Seniors
Seniors at Spartanburg Day School have special privileges, which include a special area that only they can enter, called the Senior Lounge. Seniors are also the only students who may leave the campus, and they are not required to attend their study halls. Senior Privileges can be revoked at any time, by any faculty member.
