Brearley School

The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, located on the Upper East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan. The school is divided into lower (kindergarten – grade 4), middle (grades 5–8) and upper (grades 9–12) schools, with approximately 50 to 60 students per grade.

In addition to being a member of the New York Interschool Association, Brearley is considered a sister school of the all-boys Collegiate School, the all-girls Spence School and the nearby all-girls Chapin School, with which it shares an after-school program and some classes.

History

Samuel A. Brearley founded The Brearley School in 1884, and remained the head of school until 1886, when he died of typhoid fever. James G. Croswell was the next head until his death in 1915. Since 1926, Brearley has been headed by women, first by Millicent Carey McIntosh. In December 2011, Jane Foley Fried replaced former headmistress Stephanie J. Hull who had resigned for undisclosed reasons. Jane Foley Fried became Brearley's 15th head of school.

In the early 1900s, Brearley moved from East 45th Street to West 44th Street and then in 1912 to Park Avenue and East 61st Street, where the primary program was added. The school then moved to a new building in 1929 on East 83rd Street. Brearley opened a new building at 590 East 83rd Street in Fall 2019, one block away from its existing building at 610 East 83rd street. Brearley plans to renovate 610 during the summers. For the most part, the lower school will reside in 590 and the middle and upper schools will be in 610, although older students may go from building to building for different classes.

Academics

The school's curriculum is based on the liberal arts. The student-to-faculty ratio is 6:1.

Language instruction is offered in Ancient Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.

Students have access to two computer laboratories — one serving the Lower School, the other the Middle and Upper Schools. In addition, there are three smaller computer workrooms, one for middle schoolers and two for upper schoolers, as well as the science-projects room and laptops for use in the library and classrooms. Students in grades 7 and 8 are given iPads for the school year to aid with work in classes and assignments at home. In high school, students are expected to bring their own device, such as a laptop or iPad.

Rankings and college attendance

In 2008, Brearley was ranked number two in the country by ''The Wall Street Journal'' based on its ranking of students matriculating to eight selected colleges and universities. It was ranked second-best prep school in the United States and best all-girls school by ''Forbes'' in 2013. A 2019–20 survey concluded that Brearley was the second-best girls school in the country and the fifth-best private K-12 school in the country.

Student body

As of 2019, Brearley enrolled 724 students in K-12. Students of color represented approximately half of the student body. The 2018–19 tuition was $49,680. Approximately 20% of the students received the $6.1 million that was available for financial assistance.

Sports facilities

A separate building, the "Field House" on East 87th Street, has facilities for physical education and athletics including track, soccer, basketball, tennis, badminton, volleyball, lacrosse and field hockey.

Brearley fields varsity teams in 13 sports.

The school's team colors are
red and white, and its mascot is a beaver.

Notable alumnae

*Mabel Choate, Gardener, collector and philanthropist
*Abiola Abrams, filmmaker, author, and television personality
*Modupe Akinola, psychologist and academic
*Genevieve Angelson, actor
*Blue Balliett, author of '' Chasing Vermeer''
*Anne Baxter, actor
* Mary Ellin Barrett, novelist
*Mary Catherine Bateson, writer and anthropologist
*Devika Bhise, actor
*Jenny Bicks, screenwriter, '' What a Girl Wants'' and ''Sex and the City''
* Susan Berresford, foundation executive
*Henrietta Buckmaster, author
* Mary Steichen Calderone, physician and public-health advocate
* Oona, Lady Chaplin, social leader
*Eva Chen, director of fashion partnerships at Instagram
*Lucinda Childs, dancer and choreographer
*Jill Clayburgh, actor
*Emily Cross, fencer. Olympic silver medalist.
*Alexandra Daddario, actress and model
*Fernanda Eberstadt, novelist, essayist, critic.
*Anne d'Harnoncourt, museum director
*Elizabeth Fishel, journalist and writer, ''Reunion: The Girls We Used to Be, the Women We Became''
* Lacey Fosburgh, journalist and author, '' Closing Time: The True Story of the Goodbar Murder''
*Virginia Kneeland Frantz, pathologist, pioneer in the study of pancreatic tumors
*Betty Furness, actress, consumer affairs activist, current affairs commentator
*Virginia Gildersleeve, dean, Barnard College, statesperson
* Jane Ginsburg, law professor
* Betsy Gotbaum, Public Advocate for the City of New York
* Isca Greenfield-Sanders, artist
*Emily Hoffman, socialite
*Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg, publisher
*Winifred Holt, sculptor, welfare worker. Founder of the nonprofit that is now Lighthouse International
* Nora Johnson, novelist, ''The World of Henry Orient''
*Judith Jones, editor and food writer
*Caroline Kennedy, diplomat, author and philanthropist
* Nancy Krieger, epidemiologist
*Maude Latour, singer-songwriter
*Téa Leoni, actress
*Bethel Leslie, actress
* Sarah Lewis, Professor at Harvard University, Art Curator, and TED Talk presenter
*Priscilla Johnson McMillan, journalist, translator, author, historian
* Caryn Marooney, business executive
*Ruth Messinger, Manhattan Borough President
*Sara Moulton, chef, author and television personality
* Elisabeth Murdoch, media executive
* Victoria Newhouse, architecture critic
*Diane Paulus, opera and theater director. Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater
*Mary Louise Perlman, musician
*Kathleen Ridder, philanthropist, educator, writer, equality for women activist
*Mary Rodgers, children's author and composer
*Anne Roiphe, journalist, novelist
*Katie Roiphe, writer
*Niki de Saint Phalle, artist
*Dorothy Schiff, publisher of the ''New York Post''
*Rose Schlossberg
*Tatiana Schlossberg
*Kyra Sedgwick, actor
*Maggie Shnayerson, journalist and blogger
* Helen Farr Sloan, educator, artist, philanthropist
*Sarah Solovay, singer-songwriter
*Kim Stolz, fashion model and television personality
*Marina Vaizey, art critic and author
*Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Academy Award winner, director and producer of documentary films
*Emily Vermeule, scholar and archaeologist
*Erica Wagner, literary editor for ''The Times''
* Frieda Schiff Warburg, philanthropist
*Katharine Weymouth, former publisher of ''The Washington Post''
*Flora Payne Whitney, patron of the arts

Affiliated organizations

*National Association of Independent Schools
*New York State Association of Independent Schools
* New York Interschool Association

References

External links

The Brearley School homepage

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Educational institutions established in 1884
Private elementary schools in Manhattan
Private middle schools in Manhattan
Private high schools in Manhattan
Private K-12 schools in Manhattan
Preparatory schools in New York City
Girls' schools in New York City
1884 establishments in New York (state)