<p>How about a necro. Some short questions for current students/parents:</p>
<p>Since SAS is a pretty isolated school, do the students often find themselves bored? Is there enough to do on weekends? </p>
<p>Are the kids generally nice? Do ‘loners’ exist?</p>
<p>How about the rooming options? And how do students generally find the lack of internet access in the dorm?</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>EnemyOfTheSun,
I am currently a student at SAS.
There is plenty to do on the weekends. I often find myself: talking to students in the main common room, walking to Starbucks, Acme, or the Vietnamese restaurant with friends (don’t worry about money 10 dollars every other week will do fine), watching movies, playing amateur basketball, soccer, lacrosse, or other, more imaginary sports, as well as taking hikes and bike rides.
The student body is very accepting. We don’t have any loners to my knowledge, unless, of course, you want to be left alone for a while. There is always someone there, either in the form of one of our counselors or friends. We come together at breakfast and other cafeteria style meals.
We have internet cords in the common room, which some people find an inconvenience, but when it comes down to it, they bring us together. In the form of sharing music or TV shows, and sometimes pictures.
Hope I helped,
Sincerely,
Athena</p>
<p>Hey, I was wondering if anyone could tell me the dress code for girls at ST Andrews? fall, winter, spring? Thanks so much</p>
<p>There is Haycock in the Fall and Spring, which is a skirt and blouse with out a cardigan, or pants with a belt and a blouse, no cardigan. In the Winter is class room dress, which is a skirt and a blouse, or pants with a belt and a cardigan or “third layer.” Skirts have to be at or below one hand’s width from the knee.</p>
<p>A short contribution to the debate above about punishments.
The Disciplinary Committee (a group of students with one male and one female from each grade, they are chosen by the grade they belong to) comes together to solve cases (for lack of a better word) that do not relate to academics, but rules. The Honor Committee (It is elected the same way the DC is.) deals with “cases” that relate to cheating and more academic or honor violations. These committees always meet in private. Once the decisions are made, Mr. Roach announces the verdict and the case to the school at that weeks school meeting. Therefore, the entire school is aware of what is going on, and you have to rely on your child to know.
If you have anymore concerns you may PM me.
I hope I helped, and did not anger anyone.
Sincerely,
Athena</p>
<p>Back from a self-imposed 40-day hiatus from posting here or anywhere on the web, and also from a wonderful Saturday down at St. Andrew’s to watch our first ever crew race/regatta (SevenDaughter is thoroughly enjoying her time in one of the SAS Girl’s novice boats, blisters and all!).</p>
<p>What an amazing experience, with parents, students, and alum cheering on the Saints boats from the favored vantage point on Alumni Point — no matter what place they are in each race. It is a sterner man that I who is not moved by the sound of throaty cries of “Go Saints!” as the boats enter the home stretch; accompanied by Mr. Brownlee and company on the bagpipes for the last few races of the day (usually the Varsity 1 and 2 boats of both sexes).</p>
<p>The fact that a school of less than 300 fields 5 Eights for both boys and girls plus a couple of 4s is remarkable, and to have such a nice facility as Noxontown Pond ON campus instead of a bus ride away is truly unique. If you are an admitted student who has not made up your mind and have St. Andrew’s as one of the options, I can say that you will not go wrong in picking the school in Middletown, Delaware.</p>
<p>Regardless of the results (damn that first SAS Boys 8 is FAST), a really fun day. Go Saints!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for posting this reply! We are VERY excited for our son to attend SAS for the 9th grade. We were so impressed by their visit back day. Tad Roach seems like an amazing leader. This boarding school thing is new to us but we know it is the right choice for our son. Love hearing any insider tips on SAS and assimilating into boarding school life for our son. Cheers!</p>
<p>@islandgirl: Welcome to the forum and to the SAS family. My only tip for now is to enjoy every single second of having your son at home for the next few months. The time goes by fast. Don’t worry so much about all the “what to bring, pack, what classes to sign up for” stuff until the school sends info. And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask here or via PM.</p>
<p>I too am a parent of an incoming 9th grader. Thanks for this thread, it’s very helpful. Our daughter will be attending SAS and we will be shopping all summer, here and there, whenever we can find good sales, so I want to be ready. After reading the student handbook, I have some questions about the girls’ dress code:</p>
<ul>
<li>For Classroom and Haycock Dress - Do the shirts all have to be button down shirts or are polo-style shirts and or turtlenecks allowed? It’s allowed for the boys, but no mention of them under the girls category (only dressy tops, shirts and blouses)</li>
<li>For Classroom Dress - Does the third layer have to be a cardigan or a jacket? Can it be a vest or a pullover sweater?</li>
</ul>
<p>@Sunflower219: Welcome to the CC forum and SAS family.</p>
<p>Fresh from the Pell common room (they had a free day today), some answers to your questions from my daughter:</p>
<p>For Classroom and Haycock Dress - Do the shirts all have to be button down shirts or are polo-style shirts and or turtlenecks allowed? It’s allowed for the boys, but no mention of them under the girls category (only dressy tops, shirts and blouses)
Haycock=polos
Normal classroom, button-down and turtlenecks are allowed I guess</p>
<p>For Classroom Dress - Does the third layer have to be a cardigan or a jacket? Can it be a vest or a pullover sweater?
third layer?I don’t know about vests. but “outerwear outta here”…cardigan must button, if you want to be legit</p>
<hr>
<p>Note that after spending time last summer chasing cords without rivets (Brooks Brothers and J Crew outlets had them) the ruling on “no rivets on pants” was eased…so the jean-cut pin-wale cords you find at the gap, j crew, etc. are fine. Or at least they were this year.</p>
<p>SevenDad, Thank you! You and your daughter have been very helpful :)</p>
<p>OK, more questions. I hope you don’t mind.</p>
<p>If you live driving distance from the school…
<ul>
<li><p>How often do you visit? When are the best times to visit?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you know if it is common for a friend to visit?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>**If you live driving distance from the school…</p>
<ul>
<li>How often do your children come home from boarding school? Do they come home on the long weekends? Other weekends?**
Our daughter has come home for all scheduled breaks, including the long weekends. There are typically between 4-7 weeks between breaks (both long weekends and longer breaks). For example, although the kids returned from Winter Break on Jan 3., there was a scheduled long weekend Jan 25. Spring Break ended March 20, and there’s a long weekend coming up this coming weekend, April 21 (Saturday through Tuesday). I know some kids who are not within driving distance (including internationals) do choose to stay on campus for the long weekends…I think my daughter had the option to stay this coming weekend because of the crew race, but I’m going to pick her up Sat evening after the racing is over.</li>
</ul>
<p>Since move-in day, our daughter has only came home on an non-school break once, for a doctor’s visit.</p>
<p>- How often do you visit? When are the best times to visit?
We have gone down to visit over Parents weekend, once for her birthday, and then recently for a crew race. Oh, and I stopped by to take her out to lunch when I was in the area en route to something once. Her grandparents visited on the recent Grandparents day. With breaks, we see her pretty much every month.</p>
<p>FWIW, I think it’s wise to let a kid adjust to BS their first term/year and visit minimally even if you are close enough to be there every weekend…in fact I think at Blair they have some guideline that kids can’t go home (and maybe that parents don’t visit?) for the first month or so.</p>
<p>- Do you know if it is common for a friend to visit?
Can’t answer this, as daughter tries to see her friends from home when she’s on break and has never requested that we bring a friend to visit. For what it’s worth, I think that bringing a friend to visit to help with homesickness might have the opposite effect…that might make child miss home/friends more. Also don’t know policy on overnight visits.</p>
<p>A million thanks. Your information and advice are wonderful.</p>
<p>SevenDad -</p>
<p>I just answered your message, but I got a message that I was not logged in, then I sent it again and it say your PM box was full, so just in case it did not go through, here’s more or less what i wanted to say:</p>
<p>Thank you for all your information and advice. Our daughter is very excited about starting at SAS in the fall. She is our second child (our first is a senior in college), but the first to go to boarding school. It was a difficult decision for us, boarding school was not something we had envisioned. However, our daughter started hearing about boarding school a few years ago from some of her sister’s friends in college, and immediately decided this was what she wanted to do. We visited many, applied to some, accepted to most. But, from our first visit to St. Andrew’s we all knew that that was where she belonged. She started calling herself a St. Andrean from day one. She is very independent, and we know she will do well. It is us who will need some time to adjust 
Your answers are so very helpful because it gives us an idea of how to establish a good balance. We are looking forward to taking this learning journey with her :)</p>
<p>Please don’t hesitate to offer more information, even when I don’t ask.</p>
<p>Some video from last weekend’s regatta. Despite setting a school record, the boy’s Varsity 8 lost to Gonzaga in this race, beating Kent, St. Josephs, and Thomas Jefferson in the process. For those who care, Gonzaga’s time was 4:13.6 and SAS came in at 4:16.3.</p>
<p>Races happen on Noxontown Pond, which is featured in some of the photos on the SAS website…you don’t have to leave campus to watch races. In the video, campus is on the left side of the course, mostly hidden from view.</p>
<p>[St</a>. Andrew’s Crew - YouTube](<a href=“St. Andrew's Crew - YouTube”>St. Andrew's Crew - YouTube)</p>
<p>Nice video! Thanks, SevenDad</p>
<p>Back from St. Andrew’s wonderful annual “Arts Weekend”…sort of a concentrated dose of SAS performing groups for students, and a de facto second Parents Weekend (the official one is in the Fall).</p>
<p>We saw the orchestra performance on Friday night, and the short films, dance performance, and Noxontones (a cappella group) set on Saturday AM, then stayed for the crew race. We left before the presentation of two one-act plays that night as well as a performance by the jazz ensemble. On Sunday, there was a performance by the Pipe & Drum corp (yes, bagpipes), the Choral Scholars (singing group) and then the Senior Recital. Next year, I think we’ll try to stay two nights to catch it all.</p>
<p>Four observations…First: Two of the seniors, the first violin and first cello, were on par with the best student/youth performers I’ve ever seen/heard in person. They leave big shoes to fill. Second: It’s amazing to me just how many kids in the performing groups are also athletes. I know this is the case at many schools, but perhaps moreso at the smaller schools like Groton or SAS. Third: The dance program is kind of new (I think this year may have been the first with full-time teachers), but shows great promise, IMO. Fourth: If you are interested in rowing at all, SAS has to be on your “consider” list…such a nice facility and strong track record.</p>
<p>Finally, for incoming parents, I highly recommend visiting the school on Arts Weekend if you can.</p>
<p>One of the student films mentioned above has been posted. The streetscape in the opening shot is downtown Middletown, DE. For those not familiar with SAS, the chapel is located on the lower level of Founders Hall…not in a separate building a la Groton or St. Paul’s.</p>
<p>[Moments</a> on Vimeo](<a href=“http://vimeo.com/42095250]Moments”>Moments on Vimeo)</p>
<p>hey, it has its charms. like the dude, is he likin’ his moments? he doesn’t even freak when people is whizzin all around like nut cases, like winter is coming on hard. the stone is all so hard and impenetrable. does that sound cold? cause the stone, it’s not movin at all, like it’s there forever, not movin me! sweet music. you’d think all those kids are gonna have one heck uva party. yes sirree, I liked it. you should see it. cause the day will be over before u know it. and then it’s gone, forever. carpe diem, sas lol, it’s true</p>