While academic success is the number one priority at SAC, learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom. Everything a boy does at St. Andrew’s is a part of the “Complete Man” mission of the school. Whether it’s achieving good grades, making a new friend, scoring a touchdown, getting the lead in a school play, or exercising leadership skills, we approach every moment of a boy’s life as an opportunity to grow to become the “well-rounded citizen." Student Life is created through the multitude of engagements offered, but it is also about the brotherhood that is formed among housemates, classmates and teammates. It is about the mentoring that goes on between faculty and student, coach and player, housemaster and resident. It is about the cherished traditions that have been created over a 111 year history.

A boy can arrive in grade 8 not knowing a soul, and leave five years later with friends who span the globe. Whether he is Canadian or from overseas, he will understand what being an Andrean is, and the more he involves himself in extra-curricular activities and leadership opportunities while he is here, the richer his memories will be when he leaves.

Advisory

Upper School Advisor period occurs formally every Tuesday from 10:00-10:35 a.m. Advisory is an opportunity for students to get together with their Advisor in small groups to discuss a pre-determined topic or issue relevant to adolescent development. Study skills, course selection and university guidance are also a regular part of the advisor-advisee relationship.

Aside from the formal Advisor period, the advisor-advisee relationship is further enhanced through informal meetings outside the formal advisor period. In the residences, all duty masters have their advisees in that residence for another opportunity for contact. The relationship extends further into dinners and lunches with an Advisor and his/her advisees.

Student Leadership

• Prefects
  Prefectship at St. Andrew’s represents the most prestigious position of student leadership at the College. Prefects go through the most rigorous selection/election process in the country and the Prefect announcement is one of the most exhilarating and emotional days during the school year.
  Prefects have both a significant ambassadorial role and also have responsibilities in helping manage the school. In particular they serve as role models who are available to all students, help run chapel, and act as spirit and school life facilitators.
  
• Other School Leadership
  St. Andrew’s has the most extensive leadership development program in the country with over 200 formal positions of leadership available to students in their high school years alone. The world needs leaders and SAC is the training ground.
  
  This leadership can be in a formal council or committee working in a specific area: Outreach, Community Service, SASSAW, Arts Council, Andrean Life, I.T. Committee, Academic Council, or Residential Life. Alternatively leadership can involve working with younger students in a mentorship role: Heads of House, Middle School and Madonald House Captains and Cadets.
  
  Finally, for those without formal positions of leadership, the clubs program allows students to take a lead role in club facilitation.

Mutual Respect

At St. Andrew’s we believe that boys need to be judged by the quality of their character and that bullying and harassment of any kind cannot be tolerated. The adage “Boys will be Boys” does not apply when it comes to issues of bullying or harassment.

The Mutual Respect Program provides a formal mechanism to deal with these issues and resolve them in such a way that the negative behaviour stops, the victim feels better about their place in the school and the learning experience for the antagonist is structured and consistent. Students who are harassed can seek remediation through “Informal Resolution”, “Mediated Discussion”, or “Formal Investigation”.

Mutual Respect helps to contribute to the positive learning environment at the school.

Activities and Clubs

One of the single most important attributes of St. Andrew’s is that we never force students to make choices between one activity and another. We make use of the whole day from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm in order to allow students to participate in as much as they desire.

Clubs run during the week from 6:30-7:30 and there are as many as 15 separate and complete clubs that run during the week.

Club options vary depending on the year as students begin new initiatives and others fall away. A few club examples are: Model United Nations, DECA (Business-Entrepreneur Club), Chess, Christian Fellowship…

Preparing for the Future

Courtenay Shrimpton, Assistant Headmaster, Student Life, explains that the School is philosophically motivated to provide students with opportunities to participate. This philosophy is embodied in the School’s mission statement: “the development of the complete man, the well-rounded citizen.”

What makes student life at St. Andrew’s different from other private schools? Shrimpton believes it’s the quality of the teaching staff. “We have incredibly dedicated teachers who volunteer to participate in our co-curricular programs. They don’t have to – they want to.”

St. Andrew’s is more than a university prep school — we prepare boys for life beyond the classroom, through participation in sports, arts, outreach, clubs, activities and a host of leadership opportunities … and more.

Our goal is to foster the development of leadership skills, responsibility and social awareness, whether it’s through academic, athletic or co-curricular pursuits. At St. Andrew’s, boys have every opportunity to pursue new challenges and discover new passions they’ve never dreamed of. For our students, this is an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience.