The Davern entrance of the Randolph Campus is a sweeping facade of brick and glass located just south of the intersection of Randolph Avenue and Davern Street. The entrance was built in 2000 as part of the construction of the Middle School wing.
Randolph Campus
The Randolph Campus is the home of SPA's Middle and Upper Schools, for students in Grade 6-12. The Middle and Upper Schools each occupy their own wing on the Randolph Campus, reflecting the school's understanding of the different ways students learn and interact with teachers and peers in Grades 6-8 versus Grades 9-12.
The Middle School wing was built in 2000 and was designed specifically around the academic and social needs of young adolescents. Grades 6, 7, and 8 each have their own floors within the Middle School wing, and each grade-level floor has its own classrooms, lockers, and common areas.
The Upper School occupies the original St. Paul Academy building and includes numerous additions that have been built over the last century, including a large and small gymnasium, the two-story library, the dining hall, the Huss Center for the Performing Arts, and the recently completed Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center (completed in fall 2018) and the renovated Humanities Wing (completed in spring 2019).
The Randolph Campus is also the home of Drake Arena, SPA's hockey facility, and nearly 30 acres of outdoor space, including 12 tennis courts and 6 athletic fields for soccer, football, baseball, and softball.
Explore the Randolph Campus slideshow to see our spaces and learn more about the Middle and Upper Schools.
The Huss Center entrance of the Randolph Campus is located just south of the intersection of Randolph Avenue and Wheeler Street, and was built in 2015 as part of the construction of the Huss Center for the Performing Arts.
The south side of the Randolph Campus houses the three-story Middle School wing. Each Middle School grade has its own floor, each with a common area used for grade-level meetings, small-group discussions, and socializing.
Middle School classrooms are large and filled with natural light. Classroom furnishings are flexible and are often arranged in a circle to facilitate discussion and introduce Middle Schoolers to the seminar-based coursework around Harkness tables that they will experience in the Upper School.
The Middle School wing includes two dedicated science laboratories. Both labs contain two instructional spaces: one for individual research and discussion; and one for hands-on experiments.
Bigelow Commons is on the first floor of the Middle School wing and provides a large, flexible space for a wide range of gatherings. Primarily, Bigelow is used for Middle School assemblies, which take place twice each week. It is also used for classroom activities, music and performance rehearsals, advisory check-in, and special events.
The Randolph Campus library is a two-story open space designed for collaboration. Students use the library for individual and group study, project work, and research.
The art wing is on the second floor off the Middle School, and is used by all students in Grades 6-12. The large, open space at the far end of the art wing is used for painting and drawing; two classrooms off the main art wing corridor house the offices for SPA's award-winning student publications, including The Rubicon student newspaper, the IBID yearbook, and Art & Literature magazine.
The art wing also includes a dedicated ceramics studio, which includes twelve potter's wheels and a small kiln. Two larger kilns are located just outside the ceremics studio on school grounds; these larger kilns are rebuilt every few years by students and the ceramics faculty.
Music classrooms are on the first floor just off the Middle School wing. The music wing includes two instrumental rooms and a choir room for Middle and Upper School musicians, and lockers for musical instruments.
The Upper School Humanities Wing encompasses 38,000 square feet and 20 spacious classrooms, and is home to the Upper School English, History/Social Studies, and World Language departments. All of the Humanities classrooms are designed to accommodate Harkness tables, small-group work, and classroom technology, including a Smartboard and document cameras.
Upper School classes in the humanities are held around Harkness tables—large seminar tables that support discussion-based learning. There is literally no back of the classroom around a Harkness table; students are expected to be fully prepared and participate in every discussion.
The robotics, engineering, and computer science classrooms in the Schilling Center include spaces for large-group learning, coding and experimentation, small-group work, and fabrication in a dedicated Design Lab. In the robotics classroom, there is also a mock-playing field for our robotics team to practice on and prepare for their FIRST Tech Challenge competitions.
Common areas for studying and socializing are an important part of the Upper School, and support the strong sense of community that defines the Grade 9-12 experience.
The Huss Center for Performing Arts is the school's state-of-the-art performance center. The Huss Center includes a 650-seat auditorium, a two-story entryway known as the Arts Commons, a flexible multipurpose space, and areas for costume and set design.
Driscoll Commons is a large, flexible space in the Huss Center that is used as a classroom, rehearsal space for our music and performance groups, and for special events like College Counseling speakers and fun, experiential learning activities, as pictured above.
Briggs Gymnasium is located on the west side of the Randolph Campus and includes both a large and small gymnasium. The gyms are used for team practices, games, and physical education classes, in addition to special events like the Homecoming dodgeball tournament, pictured above.
The Dining Hall was built as part of the 2000 addition that also included the Middle School. All Middle and Upper School students, faculty, and staff have lunch together in the Dining Hall, which also serves as a space for large meetings and receptions. When not in use, students often use the Dining Hall for quiet study or group work.
The Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center is the home to Upper School math, science, engineering, computer science, and robotics classes. The Schilling Center comprises almost 40,000 square feet of classroom, laboratory, and collaborative space, including 11 hybrid science laboratory spaces, 6 math classrooms, a large "math commons" for collaborative work, and study spaces.
The Harry M. Drake Gallery is SPA's working art gallery and home to 6-8 exhibitions every year. Exhibitions include two shows featuring the work of SPA students, an Alumni/ae show, and shows featuring the work of local artists, often drawn from SPA's Fine Arts faculty.
Drake Arena is the school's ice arena and home to our boys' and girls' hockey teams. Drake is also widely used by the community for hockey and figure skating, and offers public Open Skate hours in the winter.
The outdoor athletic facilities on the south side of the Randolph Campus include a football field, mulitple soccer fields, tennis courts, softball and baseball diamonds, a multi-lane track, and open green space.
On the north side of the building is Old Main, the original four-story home of St. Paul Academy and now the home of the Upper School. In nice weather, Upper School students use the North Lawn (the green space between the Schilling Center, Old Main, and new Humanities Wing) for studying, socializing, or an impromptu Frisbee game. The North Lawn is also used for Commencement ceremonies.