Saint James School

Founded in 1842, Saint James School is the oldest Episcopal boarding school based on the English model in the United States. We are a co-educational boarding school with a smaller day student program, located near Hagerstown, Maryland, just over an hour from the nation’s capital. Our campus is situated on a picturesque 100 acres surrounded by more than 600 acres of School-owned farm land. Approximately 240 students divided into Forms II-VI (grades 8-12) attend Saint James School.

Tradition is still very much a part of the fabric of our school. Morning chapel, along with family-style meals, are time-honored institutions, as is our honor code and our high expectations for community involvement and personal behavior. In these ways, we seek to prepare young men and women both for academic success in college and to be leaders for good in the world. Because of our strong tradition of academic excellence, with competitive athletics and a full program in the arts, Saint James competes with the most selective boarding schools in the nation. With a 7:1 student-faculty ratio, we are able to give our students specialized personal attention to meet their needs both within and outside of the classroom. Saint James School is committed to developing the “whole person,” helping to develop and nurture our students’ talents and intelligences, and challenging them to grow academically, athletically, musically, artistically, socially and morally. Our more traditional values and structure also contribute to a close, safe and supportive residential community.

Saint James offers a strong sense of community, and one in which faculty and staff care deeply about the development and well-being of each student. At Saint James, every student is important. We provide a solid liberal arts education with electives for enrichment and the exploration of new interests. Our programs stimulate and challenge young men and women to cultivate their strengths and improve their skills in multiple disciplines—but most of all to be better people: resilient and self-confident, caring and helpful.

At present, our students represent 15 states and 17 countries. Just under forty percent of our student body receives financial aid, providing socio-economic diversity. Our geographic, cultural and religious diversity add to a culture and learning environment that is rich, varied and rewarding.

All Saint James graduates attend four-year colleges. The Saint James experience (academic, residential, athletic, musical, artistic, social and moral) prepares students for the social and academic challenges to come, positioning them for successful careers in a wide range of professions and business endeavors throughout the country and the world.

Believing that young people are raised best in close relationship with each other and with adults who care for them, we remain committed to our enduring character as a small coeducational boarding school with a limited number of day students predominantly in the younger forms. In educating our students, we seek to develop and nurture all their talents and intelligences, challenging them to grow academically, athletically, artistically, socially and morally in the context of a close and supportive residential community.

To this end, we offer a substantial and appropriate college preparatory program in small classes maintained by a low student to teacher ratio. We require a rigorous core curriculum in English, math, science, history and foreign languages, with additional electives in each discipline. We require full participation in athletics and offer a broad program for interscholastic competition in three seasons, which emphasizes team participation and individual athletic development. We also require participation in the arts, offering opportunities for academic study in art and music, as well as opportunities for extracurricular participation and performance in drama, visual art and instrumental and choral music.

Faculty at Saint James are expected to care for their students and to teach for their success. Students at Saint James are expected to treat each other and their teachers with respect, to assume responsibility for their own actions, to follow the honor code and to obey the School's rules. These rules are designed to preserve the character and decorum of the School as a society for learning and to protect the safety and dignity of each individual member.

Every student is expected to set the right example as a member of our society and to contribute to the community of the School. As students grow older, they are called to positions of responsibility and leadership in their various activities and in the residential life of the School. These positions are intended to challenge and develop these students as leaders for good and to empower them to serve and help their fellow students.

By maintaining a school which is both traditional and tolerant, small and diverse, we hope to establish in microcosm our vision for a better society at large. By challenging our students to lead for good within our community, we hope to prepare them to lead for good in the world. By requiring all our students to serve others outside the School even while they are with us, we seek to remind them of the greater opportunities for service which await them as occasions for grace and fulfillment in their lives.