Canopied now by the changing autumn leaves, the 104-acre campus of The St. Andrew’s School has been a part of the Barrington scenery for more than a century. Founded by the Rev. William Merrick Chapin in 1893 as a school for homeless boys, St. Andrews has a long history of helping its students overcome life’s challenges. Chapin’s philosophy that students needed support not only in academics, but in every aspect of their lives can still be found in the school’s curriculum and community.
“We have always been a small school,” said Lana Romano, director of public relations at St. Andrew’s. “When you specialize as we do, you need it to be that way. We have a real nice mix of kids that add a special flavor to the school.”
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St. Andrew’s has more than 150 boarding and non-boarding students in grades six through 12.
For the last three years, under the leadership of Headmaster John D. Martin, the school has continued to modernize. Martin also credits the school’s success to the 23-member board of trustees, who Martin said, “oversee and macro policies for the school to help plan for its future.”
With two new academic buildings under construction, besides the recently developed theater and music departments, and increasing availability of financial aid the school has become a haven for children who struggle in traditional school settings.
“Our mission is to help kids that have experienced frustration or lack of success in other school environments,” Martin said. “That lack of success can be because of a learning disability, non-support from parents, or because they weren’t getting enough personal attention.”
To achieve its mission, the school has designed a number of programs to fit the needs of its 158 students, 45 percent of whom have been diagnosed with a learning disability.
For nearly 20 years the school has been running a state-credited Resource Program, which is designed for students who have experienced difficulty because of diagnosable, language-based learning problems. The program provides each student with an Individual Education Program that is collaboratively written by the special education director, teachers, parents, the student’s advisor, and the student. Students are also given special instruction in literacy classes.
The focus program is a curriculum designed for students with a history of Attention-Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder. Martin said the program promotes skill-building and independence for students with mild or moderate symptoms. The program includes class modification, and monitoring student response to these modifications.
For all students, including those who may not be diagnosed with a learning disability but still experience frustration, Martin said the pace of the curriculum is individualized. Unlike many public institutions, Martin said, St. Andrew’s doesn’t judge academic success by how fast a student can learn.
“We realize that the rate at which one learns is different for every student,” he said. “We are focused on learning the material and slowing the rate, so that it maximizes learning for the kids.”
This year, the school also participated in the High School Attended program, an in-service program designed by Dr. Mel Levine to help secondary school teachers, administrators, and other school personnel to develop a better understanding of neuro-developmental variation among adolescents. The programs includes topics of attention, memory, higher-order cognition, academic production and interventions.
“I think Dr. Levine’s program really adds to our program,” he said. ” It gets people to think about how kids really learn, and how we can best help them learn.”
Martin said in any type of educational setting there are three basic components to a child’s success. First, he said there must be a cooperation between the parent and the school. Second, studies have shown that small schools work better than big schools, and that students learn more when people know their name and they are better able to connect with their peers and teachers. The final key, he said, is a small class size where students can get a lot of individual attention.
“These are things that we know to be true,” he said. “But unfortunately the last two things are very expensive.”
Still, St. Andrew’s prides itself on small class size, the individual attention it can provide to each student, and the open lines of communication between the school and parents. Martin said every two weeks, student advisers contact each family to let them know the progress of their child.
“There’s no hiding or slipping through the cracks here,” Martin said.
In addition, faculty and staff often spend time with boarding students on the weekend in a variety of activities. Martin, who lives with his wife and three sons on the campus of St. Andrew’s said, “this is a vocation not a job. The faculty and staff work from about 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day taking an interest in the lives of all of their students.”
