coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
al, college-preparatory independent
day school
A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...
Bergen County
Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
twelfth grade
Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...
. Its student body is drawn from communities in Bergen,
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
Passaic
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Rockland County in New York.
Saddle River Day School has three divisions: the Lower Division, the Middle Division, and the Upper Division. In 1966 it received accreditation from the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, also referred to as the Middle States Association or MSA, is an accreditor in the United States. Historically, it has accredited schools in the Mid-Atlantic states region of the northeas ...
, which expires in July 2027. The school is also accredited by the
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
and is a member of the
New Jersey Association of Independent Schools
The New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS) serves independent school, independent elementary school, elementary and secondary school, secondary schools throughout the state of New Jersey. The Association consists of 70 member schools ...
and the
National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, board ...
.
As of the 2017–18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 302 students (plus 4 in PreK) and 43.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a
student–teacher ratio
The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...
of 7:1. The school's student body was 78.1% (236) White, 13.9% (42) Asian, 3.6% (11) Black, 3.6% (11) Hispanic and 0.7% (2) two or more races.School data for Saddle River Day School
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...
. Accessed September 1, 2020.
History
Saddle River Country Day School, founded by John C. and Diane M. Alford on June 24, 1957, opened in September 1960 after overcoming zoning disputes. Originally housed in a mansion on the Denison estate, the school served grades five through twelve with an initial enrollment of forty-five students. Over the years, the school expanded significantly, adding new buildings like Alford Hall and North Hall, growing its student body, and enhancing its academic and extracurricular programs. The school was renamed Saddle River Day School in 1980. Despite facing challenges in the early 1990s, including a decline in enrollment and leadership changes, the school rebounded, introducing new programs and expanding its facilities.
The campus currently features three buildings:
Main Hall: Houses the Lower School and offices for the Headmaster, Admissions, Development, Finance, and Administrative staff.
Alford Hall: Used by the middle school, Alford Hall features science and mathematics classrooms, the Athansia M. Tsoukas Laboratory, the Margaret Clark Laboratory, facilities for art and music, the entire performing Arts Center, and the Connell Science Wing.
North Hall: Contains the offices of the Upper School Dean, the Dean of Students, and the Director of College Placement. North Hall also includes The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), a full kitchen, senior commons, a gymnasium, locker rooms, a fitness room, and a music room.
The "Building the Future" campaign successfully funded a fourth building (Hall of Science and Entrepreneurship), with an expected completion date of mid-2025.
Curriculum
The Lower School utilizes phonics for language arts instruction. An IDEAS Lab (Innovation, Design, Engineering, Arts, and Science) encourages constructionism through student interactions with their physical environment. This manifests through lessons in robotics, critical thinking, 3D design, and basic coding. Foreign language instruction begins in Kindergarten, and continues as a requirement through 12th grade.
The Middle School offers a robust curriculum, with accelerated tracks in Science and Math, three world languages (Spanish, French, and Arabic), in addition to introductory courses in Business and Graphic Design.
The Upper School offers the following nineteen
Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...
courses:
English Literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
,
English Language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
European History
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500).
The first early Eu ...
,
Human Geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban ...
,
World History
Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...
,
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...
,
Music Theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
Statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
,
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
Chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, Computer Science Principles and A.
Additionally, Upper School students can select a diverse range of electives from Linear Algebra, Artificial Intelligence, Middle Eastern Studies, and Photography.
Saddle River Day School also offers students in the 9th-12th grades the opportunity to participate in the yearly French Exchange Program. This program includes a two-week homestay in alternate years in Dijon, France.
Passaic
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Previously, the school was a member of the all-private Patriot Conference, but after a decision by the NJSIAA in February 2008, both Hawthorne Christian Academy and Saddle River Day School joined the Olympic Division of the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) later that year, and remained in the conference until it was disbanded as part of the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment. The BCSL was disbanded as a part of a wide-ranging realignment of high school sports in northern New Jersey, and Saddle River Day moved to the new NJIC in the fall of 2010. With 133 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Non-Public B for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 37 to 366 students in that grade range (equivalent to Group II for public schools).
The girls basketball team won the Non-Public Group B state title in 2018 (defeating Rutgers Preparatory School in the tournament final) and 2019 (vs. Trenton Catholic Academy), and was declared as the Non-Public North B sectional champion in 2020 after finals were cancelled due to COVID-19.Girls Basketball Championship History: 1919–2024 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated March 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. The team won their first title with a 73-49 win against Rutgers Prep in the finals of the Non-Public B tournament final. The 2019 team repeated as winner of the Non-Public B title against Trenton Catholic by a score of 79-67 in the title game. The teams advanced to the Tournament of Champions both seasons. In 2018, the team was the fifth seed, winning the quarterfinals by 92-63 against fourth-seeded University High School before losing to number-one seed Manasquan High School 80-67 in the semifinal game played at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena to finish at 24-7 for the season. The 2019 team was the second seed and won the semifinal round by a score of 76-63 against number-three seed Manchester Township High School before losing in the finals to top seed Franklin High School by a score of 65-57 and finishing the season at 28-3.
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
* Natalie Jane (class of 2022), singer-songwriter
* Tor Lundvall (born 1968, class of 1987), painter and musician''Bulletin and Annual Report 2021 '' Saddle River Day School. Accessed August 13, 2024.
* Aline Brosh McKenna (born 1967), screenwriter for ''
27 Dresses
''27 Dresses'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Aline Brosh McKenna, and starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. The film was released in the United States on January 18, 2008. It received mixed re ...
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''''Fall 2020 Bulletin and Annual Report'' Saddle River Day School. Accessed August 13, 2024.
* J. Mackye Gruber (born 1972, class of 1990), screenwriter and film director
* Grace Pak (born 1987, class of 2005), cake designer featured on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
show '' Is It Cake?''
* Lisa Rogak author, primarily of biographies and other non-fiction books
* Thomas Turino (born 1952, class of 1970), ethnomusicologist and author
* Donna Thorland (born 1973, class of 1991), author and screenwriter
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...