St. Anselm's Abbey High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny story about SAAS and my DS. He was a mid Abbey student and an active but mid Abbey athlete. Abbey got him into a Top 20 LAC not mentioned so far in this thread. It’s D3 and he became a mid athlete (different sport than SAAS) in college that managed to compete in two D3 NCAA playoffs with his team. His teammates had a minor league pipeline into a major tech company. DS was ultimately recruited by TechCo and has had an enjoyable five year career there despite a hyper competitive culture. When asked, DS credits SAAS for his success.

Congrats on raising a rugger!

[Anonymous]

For parents of current and former SAAS students: I think my son might be a good fit for the school, but he is in early elementary at a DC public school still. What can I help do to prepare him for SAAS? We don't have a lot of money for tutoring schools, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For parents of current and former SAAS students: I think my son might be a good fit for the school, but he is in early elementary at a DC public school still. What can I help do to prepare him for SAAS? We don't have a lot of money for tutoring schools, unfortunately.

Read a lot! That more than anything else will help. Go to library. No need to buy books. If you’re a good reader, all the humanities will fall into place. As for math, develop critical thinking skills. Logic puzzles.

[Anonymous]

St. Anselm's is a popular applicant choice among the boys at our K-8 this year, and though it's a small sample size, I've heard similar things from friends at other schools. More popular than in recent years.

[Anonymous]

We are a new family to SAAS. DS is a new Form III (9th grade) student. It is a great education and a really nice community. The rapid growth in DS's executive functioning and maturity in only a few months is stunning. And the school is truly diverse, both in terms of race and socio-economic status.

[Anonymous]

Can you tell me about your transition into SAAS at 9th grade? How does the school incorporate new students?

[Anonymous]

The transition was relatively easy on the social front. SAAS hosted a whole-school summer event in July, pre-season sports practice began in early August, and fall musical workshops occurred in August and September. DS had no issues meeting peers before school started. SAAS also has a cool house system -- think Hogwarts -- and the houses compete every week against each other. SAAS also sponsors a lot of social activities, like movie nights and dances. The academic transition for new students can be harder -- it is a rigorous school (but the kids are not cutthroat, uber competitive with each other). It took DS a few weeks to become accustomed to the workload and expectations. But honestly, because there are so many assignments and assessments, not one of them counts for too much in the grand scheme of things. In contrast, DD attends a non-parochial private, and while rigorous, there are far fewer assessments, which means that individual grades on those are more important. Ironically, at SAAS, the rigor makes each assessment less stressful. Counterintuitive, but just my observation.

[Anonymous]

About a 1/3 of freshman at SAAS are new to the school. My kid joined SAAS during Covid, and even then the school made a lot of efforts to welcome students.

The toughest thing is the academics, in that it is so many classes to manage. And your student will have to muscle through non-preferred subjects and teachers. But the kids learn to keep at it.

Academic and emotional support for students is not great. Teachers have great support from administration to grade and teach as they see fit. It keeps good teachers there. Your student and family will be the one adapting. But I found this a benefit of the school in teaching my son to adapt to circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The transition was relatively easy on the social front. SAAS hosted a whole-school summer event in July, pre-season sports practice began in early August, and fall musical workshops occurred in August and September. DS had no issues meeting peers before school started. SAAS also has a cool house system -- think Hogwarts -- and the houses compete every week against each other. SAAS also sponsors a lot of social activities, like movie nights and dances. The academic transition for new students can be harder -- it is a rigorous school (but the kids are not cutthroat, uber competitive with each other). It took DS a few weeks to become accustomed to the workload and expectations. But honestly, because there are so many assignments and assessments, not one of them counts for too much in the grand scheme of things. In contrast, DD attends a non-parochial private, and while rigorous, there are far fewer assessments, which means that individual grades on those are more important. Ironically, at SAAS, the rigor makes each assessment less stressful. Counterintuitive, but just my observation.

Super helpful! Thanks!