It was named for Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a sixteenth-century Spanish admiral and pirate hunter who founded St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement and oldest port city in what is now the continental United States, on August 28, 1565.

The school building is a two-story octagon with an open courtyard in the center.

The gymnasium and auditorium are attached on the east and west sides, respectively.

[7][8] Communities within the school's attendance boundary include:[9] Butler Beach,[10] Crescent Beach,[11] Flagler Estates,[12] Hastings,[13] Marineland,[14] St. Augustine Shores,[15] and St. Augustine South.

After two years of preliminary work, the school was approved for the International Baccalaureate Program, beginning in the Fall of 2010.