St. Andrew's School (Rhode Island)
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| St. Andrew's School | |
| Address | |
|---|---|
| 63 Federal Road Barrington, Rhode Island, 02806 USA |
|
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Information | |
| Affiliation(s) | New England Association of Schools and Colleges |
| Founder | Reverend William Merrick Chapin |
| Student:teacher ratio | 5:1 |
| School type | middle to high school |
| Language | English |
| Yearbook | The Andrean |
| Homepage | link |
St. Andrew’s School (founded in 1893) is a nondenominational boarding and day school located on a 100-acre campus in Barrington, Rhode Island, serving co-educational grades 6-12.
Contents |
[edit] Mission Statement
St Andrew’s mission is to identify students’ individual learning styles, and to teach according to those strengths. The school believes that its student to faculty ratio of 5:1 is one method that allows it to fulfill its mission. In addition, St Andrew’s teachers are trained in the nationally-recognized program “Schools Attuned”, developed by Dr. Mel Levine, noted authority on learning differences. Over 95% of graduates attend college.
[edit] History
St. Andrew’s was founded in 1893 by the Reverend William Merrick Chapin, the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Barrington, Rhode Island. Father Chapin founded several churches and two schools.
[edit] Timeline
The story goes that St. Andrew’s began when Father Chapin found a homeless boy begging at the Providence train station. Without hesitation, he took the boy in and founded a school. The School was incorporated in 1896 as St. Andrew’s Industrial School and it quickly became an almost self-sustaining community. For the first 72 years of its existence, St. Andrew’s was an orphanage, school, social service agency, and working farm under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. Father Chapin, however, never intended for the School to be Episcopal-only: he believed that St. Andrew’s should serve any student who needed it, regardless of race or religious background. This thinking continues today.
In 1950, the trustees modified the original charter, removing the word “industrial” from the School’s name and the Statement of Purpose was revised to read that “said corporation is constituted for the purpose of establishing a school and home primarily for the training of boys from families with limited means, or with domestic insecurity.”
By the 1960s, farming had become uncertain as a potential career and outright purchase of food and other goods a more economical way of meeting the School’s needs - so the farming program was phased out. In 1964, St. Andrew’s was granted membership in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). In 1976, under Headmaster Stephen G. Waters, the Board instituted a long-range plan that led to a significant evolution of the School’s policies and operations. The function of providing a home for boys was formally dropped and the focus turned to academics. Special education for students with learning disabilities was introduced, and State-certified special-education teachers and a psychologist were hired to meet students’ needs and educate faculty about working with learning disabilities. More emphasis was placed on tuition to balance the operating budget. The School admitted young women in 1981; in 1982, the Middle School program was formalized.
Throughout its history, St. Andrew’s mission of helping students who need an individualized approach to teaching and a nurturing, stable environment in which to live and study has remained intact. As Father Chapin did, St. Andrew’s teachers and administration focus on the individual talents and needs of each student, helping them to discover ways to shine - in the classroom, in athletic or artistic pursuits, and in life.
[edit] Current situation
When the current Head Master John D. Martin began working with our faculty in 1996, he discovered that many of the pedagogical principles and techniques used by the faculty were closely aligned to the work of learning expert Dr. Mel Levine, a pediatrician and professor at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He began sending our faculty for training in North Carolina.
In 2000-2001, St. Andrew’s became a pilot partner for Dr. Levine’s nationally recognized Schools Attuned program at the high school level. Schools Attuned trains teachers to identify students’ individual learning styles in order to help them maximize their strengths. In 2002, St. Andrew’s was named an “Exemplary School” (one of only eight in the country) by the national Schools Attuned program for “an exemplary commitment to understanding differences in learning and helping struggling students achieve success in the classroom and in life.” Every St. Andrew’s teacher is trained to teach using a multi-sensory approach for the different ways students may learn.
