Student Life

Mater Dei Academy is a Catholic educational institution including instruction for Kindergarten through Grade 12.

SCHEDULE AND CLASSROOMS

Classes begin at 8:15 AM and end at 3:15PM. Kindergarten is in session four days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday), while the remainder of the school has a half-day each Wednesday.

Grades K through 6 are co-educational and are located in the main wing of the school building.

Beginning with Grade 7, boys and girls are divided into their own classes in separate wings of the Academy. At this age, co-educational classes would pose an unneeded distraction both to the students’ focus on learning and to the beginning of their formation as young men and women with their distinctive roles. This separation of the classrooms in opposite ends of the building ensures that there is minimal interaction during the school day and that the instruction can be geared towards the particular moral responsibilities of boys and girls in their respective states of life.

DAY STUDENTS AND BOARDING HOUSE

Mater Dei Academy accommodates both local day students in Grades K through 12, as well as a boys' dormitory for Grades 8 - 12. High school girls, who live outside of the Syracuse area,  may consider boarding at the Sancta Maria house, located a mile away from campus and operated by parishioners of BVM Church.

ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY

Mater Dei Academy is free from "personal technology”. No students may have cell phones, iPods, or any other electronic devices in their possession while on campus. Boarding students who travel with cell phones or other technological devices must turn them over to the staff for safekeeping and retrieve them when they leave campus on breaks. This helps maintain a healthier desire for non-technology based entertainment and recreation and avoids the pernicious media available to adolescents in the world today.