School Events
Each year, St. Andrew's hosts certain events that are special only to the School. Some of these activities and events involve the School's entire student body, while others invite Old Boys (SAC alumni), alumnies and their friends and families. These events serve different purposes, some of which are integral to the School's identity while others are used for fundraising causes.
- Annual Cadet Inspection - the annual Cadet Inspection is mandatory for the entire student body at St. Andrew's. The Inspection is usually held in May and invites prominent representatives from all across Canada to inspect the School's student body. A tradition that finds its root since 1906, the annual inspection is integral to the School's identity and preserving the School's Scottish background.
- Cadets in Concert - This musical concert showcases the School's Pipes and Drums and feature the Corps Concert Band, Stage Band and a few outstanding soloists, percussionists and dancers. It highlights traditional Celtic music, military band music, and some show tunes.
- Carol Service - The annual Carol Service is held at Yorkminister Park Baptist Church in midtown Toronto in December and showcases the School’s musicians and singers. The church holds over 2,000 people and is generally filled to capacity. Like the annual Cadet Inspection, the Carol Service is mandatory and everybody from the student body must attend.
- Focus Festival of the Arts - This program is a three day festival of plays, a film festival, visual arts, music and social events for students, parents and guests. Boys who have never been involved in drama or on the stage before are encouraged to participate by writing their own plays, directing, producing or acting in performances large and small.
- Homecoming - an annual gathering of all St. Andrew's alumni to return to St. Andrew's in September. Held in conjunction with the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 reunion dinners, this annual gathering is for the entire Andrean community. The Homecoming celebration includes games for the children in the Quad and in the Great Hall, and various sports competitions, especially soccer and football. For Upper School students, the Homecoming event usually includes the annual Homecoming dance on Saturday evening.
- MacPherson Tournament - an annual hockey event where the St. Andrew's varsity hockey team competes with hockey teams from other top schools for the MacPherson Cup. The cup is named after three Andreans: Lloyd MacPhearson, Jim Hamilton and Bob Meagher, all of whom loved hockey with passion and contributed greatly to the St. Andrew's hockey team. The tournament has a North American flavour, hosting schools from Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Quebec, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, New York, Nova Scotia and Michigan as well as a variety of regions in Ontario.
- Prize Day - Prize Day is the culmination of the School's academic year, and features many awards and prizes earned by the School's students. There are two ceremonies, one for the Middle School and one for the Upper School. Prize Day takes place after exams, which are usually completed by early June.
- St. Andrew's Dinner - every November, a traditional St. Andrew's night dinner is held, complete with Haggis. All students must attend, wearing their kilts for this special occasion. Like the annual Cadet Inspection, the St. Andrew's Dinner has taken place since the inception of the School and is integral to the preservation of the School's Scottish traditions.
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“School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.”
—Ivan Illich (b. 1926)
“One cannot be a good historian of the outward, visible world without giving some thought to the hidden, private life of ordinary people; and on the other hand one cannot be a good historian of this inner life without taking into account outward events where these are relevant. They are two orders of fact which reflect each other, which are always linked and which sometimes provoke each other.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)