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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New poster here. We are very interested in St. Albans. The next entry year for us would be 7 and then 9th. We are very happy in our parochial catholic school and plan to be there through 8th grade. What are the benefits to applying in 7th vs. 9th? For those with kids at the school, would love to hear your experience at the middle school level and high school level. [/quote]

If you're set on STA, the one advantage to applying in 7th is getting two chances at a spot.  My son and several others we know applied twice (7th and 9th).  My kid had straight As, travel sport, arts extracurriculars, etc but 7th grade spots our year were almost all hooked kids (siblings, legacy, etc).  He applied again in 9th and got in.  Others years may have more unhooked spots available for 7th--it varies a lot.  You won't know until you apply because STA (or any school) isn't going to come out and tell you this but if you end up joining a class you're figure out who joined and when.

I think the middle school experience is pretty rigorous but my kid did fine joining the school in 9th from public (even from virtual learning in public).  If we could do it all over again I would have loved to have sent him earlier simply because we really like the school and it's been fantastic for him!  The 4 years of high school go very quickly.  That said, he is still quite good friends with his middle school friends (who now all attend different high schools) and it's very nice to have these friends and social world.  The kids who join earlier have their STA friends and that's it. I will say the negative of this on the 9th grade end is that it can take a year or so to make friends. I feel like girls (I have one of them) hit a new school and immediately want to connect.  Boys warm up to each other over time and shared experiences.  It took my son until 10th grade to really find his people.  It's also more difficult to enter an "ongoing" class in 9th grade.  I can be easier for boys to enter a high school where everyone is new in 9th.

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Thanks so much for sharing this information. I really appreciate it. Did you find that your son was behind/had to play catch up on anything starting in 9th? Do you recall how many new students joined in 9th in the year your son started?[/quote]

He was definitely a bit behind in English (especially writing) but he came from virtual public.  I'm not sure he could have learned less in this regard during middle school (in public).  That said, he caught up and in general his grades are really good.
There are about 20-25 kids added to the grade in 9th, depending on the year. [/quote]

Thank you. If I may ask one more question?

Could you share the top three things you love about the school. We haven't toured it yet, but I've been following the school via their website updates and videos for years, and the school really pulls on my heart strings. It seems so very intentional in its approach. We are also considering boarding school, but this is one of the schools in this area that might change our mind on pursuing the boarding school route (both my husband and I went to boarding schools in the US and England, respectively, hence the reason we are open to boarding schools). [/quote]
You could board at STA if you really wanted to. [/quote]

Yes, I saw that. If we go the boarding school route, we'd want a school that is majority boarding. Something like St. Andrews School in Delaware or Lawrenceville in NJ (this of course is assuming he'd get in). [/quote]

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