Welcome to St. Anne's-Belfield School
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about St. Anne’s-Belfield School. We understand that you have many choices for your child’s education, and appreciate your consideration of our community.
It is not an easy task to strike the appropriate balance between the new and the old. This task becomes even more difficult in a school like St. Anne’s-Belfield, which is rich in history and whose students and alumni have been blessed with achievement and success for over a century. Yet it is essential to delivering our mission that we continue the practices and traditions that have defined the school and created a culture of excellence while we also nurture an environment of innovation, improvement, and creativity.
Today, St. Anne’s-Belfield School stands at the intersection of tradition and innovation, when challenging conversations about where we have been and where we aim to go are occurring. In the fall of 2010, we completed the school’s first capital campaign in our 100-year history, accompanied by the successful completion of the most ambitious building projects the school has ever undertaken. Today we have over 100,000 square feet of new teaching and learning spaces for our students in Pre-School through 8th grade and newly renovated and state-of-the-art facilities for our Upper School division. Our building projects ensure that our students and teachers now have the latest resources at their disposal in pursuit of our educational goals. Furthermore, the campaign raised over $44 million towards an endowment, which will ensure the school’s fiscal health for decades to come.
We are further blessed by record admission and enrollment over these past three years. Interest in St. Anne’s-Belfield School has never been more enthusiastic, thus selectivity has never been higher. These numbers result in a student body that is prepared for the high expectations of the school and dedicated to our core values of Honor, Scholarship, Spirituality, Diversity, and Community.
Given our recent success, this could understandably be a time for complacency at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, where we can stick to our present course and “not rock the boat.” However, after a few months of enjoying what we have achieved, we soon started asking ourselves, “How can we make the school even better?” Coinciding nicely with the need for a new Strategic Plan, we initiated a school-wide discussion about what is next for our school and how we can take our programs to the next level of excellence. And though many more conversations need to occur, we have already implemented some needed changes. Every teacher from Pre-School through 12th grade receives an iPad in order to integrate this transformational technology into our classrooms. Every student uses an iPad as the primary learning tool during one unit in the school year, and we are carefully assesssing the impact it has on our students’ achievement. To this same end, we have appointed Technology Resource Coordinators in each division, so that our teachers and students have copious support with this initiative. Knowing that ongoing professional development correlates directly with student achievement, the School has made a significant investment in this key area. Each division now has an Assistant Head for Academics, a “master teacher” dedicated solely to overseeing professional development, nurturing collaboration among colleagues, encouraging a culture of self- and peer evaluation, providing ongoing feedback on classroom practices, and mentoring teachers new to the school. We expect this additional support will yield measureable results in our classrooms.
These additional investments in our faculty and the quality of our programs do not replace the best practices we have always employed at St. Anne’s-Belfield School. Our teachers are the finest in the business—masters of what they teach and dedicated to their students. Our school and our class sizes are small—every child is known well and cherished deeply in our community. We continue to expand our global reach, with students from 18 countries, an international ethos that adds immeasurably to every child’s experience. Our community is enriched by the diversity of our students and teachers. With young people of color comprising 21% of the student body, and 38% of our students receiving financial aid, we are one of the most racially and socio-economically diverse schools in the area. Our traditional pillars of the School—weekly Chapel and our Honor Code—remind us that we are concerned most with developing our students’ spirit, soul, and character. Our college placement list is testament to the diligence and ambition of our graduates and the quality preparation our classes provide. Next year, members of the Class of 2013 will attend Yale, Dartmouth, Grinnell, University of Chicago, Bowdoin, Boston College, Colgate, Bates, NYU, William and Mary, and the University of Virginia.
These are exciting times for St. Anne’s-Belfield School, and if you are in the process of learning more about us, I encourage you to dig more deeply on this website and then make a visit. No words can adequately capture the positive energy, hard work, and sense of purpose that characterize life on our campuses. I wish you a healthy and productive school year.
All the best,
David S. Lourie
Head of School
