St. George's School, Newport

St. George's School is a private, Episcopal, coeducational boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, United States, just east of the city of Newport, on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman. It is a member of the Independent School League and is one of five schools collectively termed St. Grottlesex.

St. George's School
Address
372 Purgatory Rd, Middletown, RI 02842

Middletown
,
Rhode Island

United States
Coordinates41°29′28″N 71°16′24″W
Information
TypePrivate secondary, day and boarding
MottoSapientia Utriusque Vitae Lumen
("Wisdom, the light of every life.")
DenominationEpiscopal
Established1896
Head of SchoolAlixe Callen
Grades9–12
GenderCoeducational
Enrollment370
CampusSuburban
Color(s)Red, black, and white
Athletics conferenceISL
MascotDragon
RivalMiddlesex School
NewspaperThe Red & White
YearbookThe Lance
WebsiteSt. George's website
St. George's School—Church of St. George, Little Chapel, and Memorial Schoolhouse
Location372 Purgatory Rd., Middletown, Rhode Island
Coordinates41°29′27″N 71°16′6″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1910
ArchitectCram, Ralph Adams; et al.
Architectural styleTudor Revival, Late Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.04001235[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 12, 2004

History

The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman, a member of a prominent Rhode Island family.[2]

In his "Purposes of the School", Diman wrote:

The specific objectives of St. George’s are to give its students the opportunity of developing to the fullest extent possible the particular gifts that are theirs and to encourage in them the desire to do so. Their immediate job after leaving school is to handle successfully the demands of college; later it is hoped that their lives will be ones of constructive service to the world and to God.[3]

On 1972, this school became co-educational.[4]

Campus

The school's campus is familiarly known as "The Hilltop", as it is located on a prominent hill just east of Newport. Its oldest buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.[5] The layout of the campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.[6]

  • Memorial Schoolhouse – The main academic building, in which most classes are held, in subjects other than art, music, and science. Designed by McKim, Meade & White[7]
  • Old School – The oldest building on campus, Old School serves a variety of purposes. The first floor serves as the office of the Head of School, as well as many administrators and admissions counselors. To the east, the Main Common Room serves as a meeting space for various purposes. The Faculty Lounge and kitchen are attached to the Main Common Room. On the second and third floors are the Old School (girls) and Red (boys) dormitories.
  • Academic Center – Hosting all science classes along with most math classes. A multitude of other subjects meet in this new building as well, including french and history classes. it houses laboratories for all physical sciences, and is close to the observatory. It also has a large atrium used for presentations or examinations.
  • Chapel – A classic Gothic chapel built in 1928, with John Nicholas Brown's donation and designed by Ralph Adams Cram. The whole school congregates in the Chapel for two services weekly, one of which is an Episcopal Church service. There are two additional optional services; a Friday night Compline service, and a Sunday Evening Prayer. In 2005, the Chapel organ was completely renovated. The Chapel now also features a choral practice space. Once a week the chapel choir, consisting of nearly 80 students, sings.
  • Hill Library – Contains more than 40,000 volumes and 75 periodicals.
  • John Nicholas Brown '18 Center – Named in honor of school alumnus John Nicholas Brown, class of 1918, the Brown Center was dedicated in the spring of 2005. It houses the College counseling offices on the main level; deans' offices on the second floor (director of studies, dean of students, dean of faculty); and the bookstore, Geronimo office, mail room and summer school office on the lower level.
  • Sixth-Form House – Originally used as the school gymnasium in 1903, it was converted to classroom use in 1911. Dormitory rooms for school prefects were also once located in the building. Currently, the business office, advancement office, and communications office are housed in Sixth-Form House.
  • King Hall – The school's dining hall, it serves three meals daily
  • William H. Drury and Richard Grosvenor Center for the Arts – home to St. George's 450-seat theatre, where drama productions, musical performances, and lectures are held. The building also features a black box theatre, a scenery shop (used by Stage Crew for the drama productions), many soundproof practice rooms, an exhibition gallery, two drawing studios, a painting studio, ceramics and photography studios, and two computer labs.
  • Charles A. and Carol J. Hamblet Campus Center – Named in honor of the 10th headmaster and his wife, the Campus Center was dedicated in the fall of 2004. It includes a grille restaurant open during the off-hours of King Hall, a great room, a game room, and a meeting room.
  • Dorrance Field House – Built in 1987, the Field House includes four indoor tennis courts, three basketball courts, and a ninth-of-a-mile indoor track.
  • Hoopes Squash Center – The Joseph C. Hoopes Sr. Squash Center, housing eight international glass-backed courts, was completed in 1996. Using the German made ASB court system, it serves during the summer months as the home for Mark Talbott's Squash Academy, the official training center of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association. It served as the site for both the National Junior Squash Championships in 1996 and 1998, and the Men's Squash Softball Championships in February 1997.
  • Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center – The $4.5 million Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Jr. Ice Center, completed in November 2000, features two ice hockey facilities. Originally built in 1954 as an outdoor rink and enclosed in 1968, the Cabot Memorial rink has new boards, a completely new surface (200′ × 85′) and a new roof.
  • Norris D. Hoyt Pool – The Norris D. Hoyt Swimming Pool is an eight-lane pool with overflow gutters and a Colorado Timing System. Completed in the fall of 2004, the pool holds a large balcony seating area as well as many deck-level glass viewing windows.
  • Ted Hersey Track – The track is all-weather, completed in the fall of 1996. It is a six-lane, 400-meter oval, with an eight-lane sprint chute along the east side. All St. George's field events are held on the inside, with the exception of the javelin throw. It includes the high jump area at the northern end of the oval, the discus throw area at the northwestern corner, the shot put area at the northeastern corner, the long and triple jump parallel along the western straight-away, and the pole vault way parallel to the eastern straightaway. The area inside the oval is Redway Field and is large enough for an international-sized soccer field (360 feet by 225 feet). The track is named for the longest-serving (1952–2004) faculty member in school history, who founded the programs in cross-country and track-and-field.
  • Blazer and Wood Tennis courts – Blazer Tennis Courts are hardcourt-surfaced courts located at the main entrance of the school. Both junior varsity teams host their games on these courts. The Wood Tennis Courts are six hardcourt-surfaced courts located across the street from the main entrance of the school.
  • Playing Fields – The 10 athletic fields include Crocker Field (used for varsity football and girls' varsity lacrosse), Elliott Field (used for varsity baseball), a JV baseball field, two field hockey fields, four lacrosse/soccer fields, and a softball field.
  • There are five boys' dorms and six girls' dorms. Two or three faculty members live with their families in apartments within each of the buildings.
  • The exterior of the St. George's School Chapel
  • The "Hilltop", viewed from Second Beach

Academics
View, from St. George's School, of Sachuest Point

As of the 2020-21 school year, students are required to take a minimum of four years of English, mathematics through precalculus, three years of a foreign language, two years of laboratory science courses, two years of social sciences, three trimesters of religious studies, and three trimesters of art classes.[8]

Tuition and fees

Cost of attendance (2020–2021)[9]

  • Boarding student: $65,000
  • Day student: $45,000
Financial-aid

Thirty-two percent of our students receive financial-aid grants, and SG will continue to bridge the gap for as many families as possible. In 2020-2021 SG distributed $5.56 million in need-based grants to 119 students who would otherwise not have been able to join the SG community. The average boarding grant was $51,000.

Extracurricular activities

The school is a member of the Independent School League (ISL) and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC).[10][11]

Sailing school vessel
Geronimo on her transatlantic voyage

Geronimo is a Ted Hood-designed 69-foot fiberglass sloop. Three times during the academic year, Geronimo carries students from St. George's School on six-week-long voyages. The ship sails year-round between Canadian waters and the Caribbean and is now making a two-year-long journey to the Mediterranean. Students are taught nautical science and oceanography/marine biology while on board. Summer trainees range in age from high school to adult.[12][13]

Notable alumni
Students wait for dinner outside King Hall in 1933
Students at St. George's in 1933

Sexual abuse reports

In early 2016 the school stated that sexual abuse of students had occurred, dating from the 1970s, and perpetrated by employees and students. St. George's "repeatedly failed to notify police and child welfare authorities as required by law", a news report said. Many accusers at the time contested school assertions that accusations were only recent and "much of their anger has fallen on [the head of school]", the report continued.[14] The extensive abuse—"at least 51 students were abused by employees ... and at least 10 others by fellow students"—was further documented in a 400-page independent report released in September.[15][16][17][4]

The independent report also noted the following positive observation. "Fortunately, St. George’s is certainly a very different place now. We find that St. George’s current leaders have established a culture of respect for the students who attend there now, including new traditions that set an entirely different tone for students and faculty than prevailed during the 1970s and 1980s. We also find that St. George’s has in place programming, policies, practices, and systems intended to eliminate, to the largest extent possible, faculty abuse of students and student-on-student abuse, and to address correctly reports of abuse or assault should they arise. And the school is committed to a process of continuous improvement to ensure that its practices remain those thought best to address difficult issues of faculty and student boundaries, student sexuality, and new opportunities for harm that digital and other new technologies may bring." [16]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Quick Facts". St. George's School. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  3. "Mission & Leadership". St. George's School. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  4. Wallace, Benjamin. "How St. George's Atonement for Its Sex-Abuse Scandals Turned Ugly". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  5. "National Register of Historic Places 2004 Weekly Lists (PDF): 11/08/04 THROUGH 11/13/04" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. http://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/uploaded_pdf/ead_pdf_batch_28_december_2005/ms001018.pdf Box B30
  7. http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/mckim/dscref12.html Folder FF21
  8. "Diploma Requirements" (PDF). www.stgeorges.edu. St. Georges School. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  9. "Tuition & Financial Aid". St. George's School. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  10. "Independent School League". isleague.org. Independent School League. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  11. "Member Schools – NEPSAC". www.nepsac.org. New England Preparatory School Athletic Council. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  12. "St. Georges School: Geronimo". St. George's School. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  13. "Vessel Details – Geronimo". Sailing Ship Adventures. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  14. "Sex abuse scandal rocks exclusive New England prep school" (Archive). Associated Press at CBS News. January 21, 2016. Retrieved on January 21, 2016.
  15. Perez-Pena, Richard, "‘Private Hell’: Prep School Sex Abuse Inquiry Paints Grim Picture", New York Times, September 1, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  16. Murphy, Martin F., "Sexual Abuse at St. George’s School and the School’s Response: 1970 to 2015 (Report of Independent Investigator)", Foley Hoag LLC, September 1, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  17. Redden, Molly (2016-09-01). "One in five girls at St George's school in 1970s sexually abused by trainer: report". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-20.

Further reading
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