Study at St Andrew's Preparatory School South Africa

At 120 years old, St Andrew's Preparatory School in Grahamstown has a network of Old Boys and Girls all over the world and whenever they pop in to visit the school, the most common remark remains "It was the best time of my life."
Boys and girls start in the pre-primary school and move up to the adjacent junior primary school in the park-like setting the school is well known for. Learners may board from Grade 1.
After completing Grade 3, Girls move to the Diocesan School for Girls and the boys remain at the Prep school.
For more than a century, the school has been known for its ethos of individual care, ensuring a high academic standard and instilling confidence in all learners.
St Andrew's Prep hosts the annual Children's Arts Festival, the Sasol Children's SciFest and as an annual Eisteddfod.
Being the main feeder school for St Andrew's College, many parents opt to send their their boys to Prep for a part or their entire Grade 7 year, preparing them for life as a boarder in the nurturing environment of a small school and giving them the opportunity to slot into their peer group before they adjust to senior school.
St Andrew's College proudly celebrates its 150^th year in 2005. Together with the adjacent Diocesan School for Girls (established 130 years ago), they have established an academic model unique in South Africa: they remain single sex schools, but boys and girls are co-instructed from Grade 10.
"It's like being at a co-ed school, but we don't have any boys," explains a DSG matric pupil who moves across from the DSG campus to St Andrew's for Mathematics and English, but does Drama, Music and French at DSG.
The impressive million Rand dance studio on the girls' campus is used by boys too, for Drama lessons, but the state-of-the-art gymnasium, which includes the service of a bio-kineticist, is strictly girls only. The boys have their own weights room on St Andrew's campus.
Other shared facilities are the Music School (with 10 full-time and 9 part-time teachers) and the Design and Technology Centre. Olympic Air Rifle Shooting, Archery and Waterpolo are taught and played on St Andrew's campus, but all other sports are played separately.
St Andrew's is particularly proud of its rowing, with their First Coxed Four winning the South African Championship for three consecutive years and being chosen to represent South Africa at the International Championships for the same number of years.
Community Outreach plays an important part in school life. In 2003, a group of DSG girls decided to run from London to Folkestone, swim the English channel and then cycle from Calais to Paris to raise a million rand to buy a home for Aids orphans. And they did!
Each school has a chapel and chaplain responsible for the pastoral care of the pupils.
With many years of 100% pass rate and the regular inclusion of some of their pupils in the Independent Schools' top 50 in the country and their University exemption standing at 93%, DSG and St Andrew's College are clearly in the top academic drawer.
As with most South African schools, Outdoor Education is a popular part of the curriculum. But the schools stretch this aspect, too, to new boundaries. For the first time in 2004, all 134 Grade 10 boys and girls participated in an amazing journey from the source of the Fish River to the mouth: a survivor-style journey of 300km that took 18 days! This included academic stop-overs where pupils learnt the history, geography and literature of the area.
St Andrew's Preparatory and College and the Diocesan School for Girls are proud of their high academic standing, the musical and cultural excellence, the sports prowess and unique outdoor education but what really makes them special is that the schools are all about their young people.
FACT SHEET:
Numbers: St Andrew's Prep: 210 St Andrew's College: 400 DSG: 357
Full time Boarding: 85% of senior schools
Demographics: 68% Eastern Cape
12% Other African countries
2% UK, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.
The balance are from all provinces in South Africa

Subject choices: English, Mathematics, Afrikaans, French, Xhosa, Business Economics, Art, Drama, Music, Physiscal Science, Biology, Accounting, Computer Sciences, Food Technology, Business Economics, History, Geography, Design and Technology, Biblical Studies

Sports played: tennis, squash, hockey (field and astro), basketball, netball, rugby, cricket, waterpolo, rowing, athletics, air rifle shooting, archery, golf, horse riding, cross country, tri- and biathlons

Music school: Jazz band, 6 choirs, pop band, classical ensembles, traditional pipe band, wind orchestra, marimba bands

Clubs: angling, fly fishing, nature, lawn bowls, cycling, running, teddy bear and porcelain doll making, chess, cookery, astrology, exploration (visiting Kilimanjaro in August), scripture union, debating, leatherwork, computers, etc.etc.
For MORE information, call the Marketing Office at +27 (0) 46 622 7214

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