For well over a century, St. Andrew’s School (SAS) has provided Richmond’s children with educational opportunity. In 1894, philanthropist Grace Arents founded SAS in Richmond’s historic Oregon Hill with the belief that early childhood education needed to embrace children as whole people: “the head, the hand, and the heart.” She believed that access to high-quality education was essential in preparing children for future success.
125 years later, the school continues to be guided by those founding principles. SAS is an intentional and loving school community that values the process of student-centered learning and engages in areas of opportunity for students including academics, visual and performing arts, social and emotional learning, wellness and nutrition, family engagement, and graduate support.
Once a family enters the SAS community, the focus becomes the student and where they are at this particular point in life. Our goal is to be responsive; we take that knowledge and combine it with our comprehensive whole-child educational approach. By doing this, each student can share who they are, learn about others, and take those relationships to nurture their present and future.
The legacy of Grace Arents runs through everything at SAS, and is most tangible in our Growing with G.R.A.C.E. (Grow your brain, Respond with Kindness, Accept differences, Care for your community, Exercise self-control) school-wide expectations for interactions. How does this work? If a student is having a hard time in class, the conversation focuses on, “How will you exercise self-control the next time something like this happens?” Growing with G.R.A.C.E. is an ongoing conversation and way of life between students, staff, families, and the community. It’s one way the SAS community helps students understand that what they learn can extend to all facets in their lives.
Students at SAS also participate in Project Based Learning (PBL) work, engaging students in all grades with hands-on experiences and passion projects. Through PBL driving questions, (such as “How can we, as members of a community, care for the James River?”) students take on real-world issues or complex problems and spend an extended period of time to creatively, collectively, and academically work together and reach conclusions.
As we celebrate the past 125 years of bringing high-quality education to students and families in Richmond, we are also looking forward to the next 125 years and beyond. Our hope is to expand the reach of SAS, and by doing so, expand opportunities for families across Richmond.
To view videos of community members sharing their St. Andrew’s School story, please click here.