About St. Andrew's School

Founded in 1929 with an unprecedented commitment to financial aid, St. Andrew’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, all-boarding school nestled on 2,200 acres in Middletown, Delaware.

St. Andrew's was built on a singular commitment: that any student qualified for admission should be able to attend, regardless of their ability to pay tuition. This principle remains the cornerstone of our culture of kindness and curiosity, where collaboration, discussion, and authentic intellectual engagement define how we teach and learn.

Here, you will grow as a scholar, athlete, and artist. You will find opportunities for service and leadership. You will find peers and mentors who will challenge and support you in equal measure.

Above all, you will belong.

Our Head of School

Joy McGrath ’92 is St. Andrew’s fifth head of school. She brings decades of institutional leadership, strategic insight, and a deep belief in the life-changing power of education.

Raised in a farming family in nearby Smyrna, Delaware, Joy’s life was shaped by substantial need-based scholarships to St. Andrew’s and Harvard—experiences that instilled in her a conviction that great schools are places of human flourishing and transformation.

Before returning to St. Andrew’s in 2021, she spent 15 years at Yale University, where she guided key areas of university-wide strategy, operations, and advancement. As chief of staff to the president of Yale, she led strategic planning, coordinated major institutional initiatives, and oversaw executive operations. In earlier roles, she helped steward Yale’s resources through the 2008 financial crisis and served as the university’s first director of development for Yale College.

Joy began her career at St. Andrew’s, teaching English, advising students, living in the boys’ dorms, and later serving as director of advancement. As head of school, she leads with a focus on moral formation, intellectual curiosity, joyful community, and robust financial aid. She also serves on the board of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS). Joy is married to her St. Andrew’s classmate, Ty Jones ’92.