The Savannah Country Day School (SCDS, Country Day) is an independent college preparatory school founded in 1955 in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, United States. The co-educational school serves students from

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through to

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

, and has 1,028 students enrolled.

History

Savannah Country Day School originates from the founding of the Pape School by Nina Anderson Pape in 1905. Savannah Country Day School itself was founded in 1955 by a group of parents (including Cornelia Groves), with the school taking over the assets and faculty of Pape School, including the facilities east of Forsyth Park, and the school's curriculum. In 1960, the school moved to its current Windsor Park location, south of Savannah. A book titled ''Service Through Knowledge and Character'' details the school's history. The first headmaster was Robert W. Trusdell and first upper school principal was Thomas Triol, whose wife Helen taught chemistry and physics. In the 1970s, the school decided to not affiliate with the Episcopal Church when the Bishop made it clear that the school would have to enroll substantially higher number of

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

. In 1983, Dr. Paul M. Pressly became the school's headmaster. A

Rhodes scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

who earned degrees from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Dr. Pressly helped develop a long-range plan for the school. In 1991, a visiting committee from the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

named Country Day a National School of Excellence, one of only ten independent schools in the nation to receive that award. The school was honored by the

Blue Ribbon Schools Program The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

in December 1992. In 2013, Kef L. Wilson became the school's new headmaster. He is the eighth headmaster since the school's inception in 1905.

Academics

Savannah Country Day School has been named "Best Private School" by ''Savannah Magazine'' and has been honored as the "Best Private School" by ''Connect Savannah''. The curriculum is divided between lower school ( junior-kindergarten to

fifth grade Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...

), middle school (

sixth grade Sixth grade (or grade six in some regions) is the sixth year of schooling. Students are typically 11–12 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs. Different terms and numbers are used in other parts of the world. It is commonly the firs ...

eighth grade Eighth grade (or grade eight in some regions) is the eighth post-kindergarten year of formal education in the US. The eighth grade is the ninth school year, the second, third, fourth, or final year of middle school, or the second and/or final ye ...

), and upper school (

ninth grade Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of secondary school, high school in the United States, or the last year of middle school#United States ...

). The average class size is sixteen students with a student:teacher ratio of 10:1. A "Little School" exists for children between the ages of six weeks and three years. The school also offers summer programs for children in the form of

day camp Day camps also known as summer camps in some areas, are geared for those who are of school ages 3-7. They offer activities in a social setting, usually in the community and the children return home in the evenings. Day camps can be booked by the ...

experiences. Activities include academics,

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

s, athletics, and outdoor experiences.

Admissions

The school has an acceptance rate of 50%.

Campus

Savannah Country Day School's campus is located on a wooded 65-acre campus on Savannah's south side in the Windsor Forest neighborhood. In 2005, the school completed construction on the Nina Anderson Pape Middle School building. In 2008, the school officially opened a new LEED Silver-certified lower school.

Fine arts

In 2011, the Savannah Country Day School chorus was one of 14 choirs selected to perform Handel's "Messiah" live at Lincoln Center in New York. The show was reviewed by ''The New York Times'', which described it as a "full-throttle" experience.

Environmental stewardship

In 2012, the

recognized Country Day as a

Green Ribbon School Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...

in honor of its commitment to environmental stewardship. In 2011, the school was given the nation's first Green Flag award by the

National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (includin ...

. In 2008, the school dedicated the first Silver LEED-certified lower school in Chatham County. The 52,500-square-foot lower school building includes the following environmental features: * Non-toxic paint and carpet * A roof system to catch and store rain in an underground cistern, then used to water the gardens * Energy saving windows * Carpets, paints and cabinets with reduced volatile organic compounds * Surrounding landscaping and gardens with plants and shrubbery requiring minimal water * An 800-gallon aquacenter * A butterfly garden equipped with cameras to show the different stages of butterflies * Countertops made from recycled material * Low-water urinals and water heads Since the school's first vegetable garden was planted in the 1970s, the school has expanded to include a Butterfly Garden, Herb Garden, Fruit Garden, Brown Thumb Garden, Monet Garden, Organic Spot, Shakespeare Garden and Pangaea Garden. Throughout the school year, third-grade students plant, tend, harvest and eat fruits and vegetables grown on campus in the SCDS cafeteria. Students also donate vegetables from the garden to a local food bank."Savannah Country Day Students Lend a Hand to Second Harvest," WSAV-TV, February 3, 2012, http://www.wsav.com/story/21211440/savannah-country-day-students-lend-a-hand-to-second-harvest

References

External links

*
Nina Anderson Pape
historical marker {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1955 Preparatory schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Schools in Savannah, Georgia Private high schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Private middle schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Private elementary schools in Georgia (U.S. state) 1955 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Segregation academies in Georgia