Record Number of New Students Enroll as SJS Looks Forward to In-Person Experience

After a year of hybrid learning, we are thrilled to have all of our students back on campus and learning in person for the 2021-2022 school year.  

We had a record number of new students enroll at Saint James, with 83 students joining us this year.  We also had many students who were completely virtual last year, and so there were many new faces stepping foot on campus for the first time in August.  With such a large population of new students as well as two disrupted school years, we are relying on our fifth and sixth form students and our faculty to reinforce school policies and traditions.

Saint James has protocols in place to ensure the health and safety of our community during the ongoing pandemic. Students, faculty, and coaches were required to get the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the school year. Meritus Health held a vaccine clinic on campus in August for students who had not yet been vaccinated, particularly our international students who may not have had access to the vaccine. 

While waiting for our full student population to receive both doses of the vaccine, some additional precautions from last year were carried over.  We had two lunch and dinner seatings to spread students out, and students split for chapel, with half present in the chapel and the other half watching it streamed from the auditorium.  Happily, though, in October we were able to resume with regular chapel and seated meals.  Getting these two important Saint James traditions back to normal has been a huge benefit and a positive sign that we're moving in the right direction.

We are still requiring face masks to be worn indoors in common spaces, except in the dormitories.  Masks are not required for outdoor activities.  We are grateful to our students and parents as they have been understanding and cooperative as we navigate our response to the pandemic.

We feel fortunate to be living and learning together again, and we are delighted that our school year is largely looking like a normal Saint James year—in-person classes with dynamic faculty, interscholastic athletics, theater in front of an audience, school trips on weekends, etc. It’s an exciting time to be a Saint!