The Brearley School is an all-girls

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in New York City, located on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

neighborhood in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. 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 , motto_translation = Not for school, but for life we learn , founder = Clara B. Spence , tuition = $60,880 (2022-2023) , chair = , head_label = , head ...

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 Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

. 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 Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...

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 Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

. 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 A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...

— 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 ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' 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 ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' 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 Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

including track, soccer,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

. 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 Genevieve Rose Angelson is an American actress, best-known for playing Indigo on '' The Afterparty'', Patti Robinson on ''Good Girls Revolt'', and Ruth on '' Flack''. Early life and education Angelson was born in New York City to lawyer and busin ...

, actor *

Blue Balliett Blue Balliett (born 1955 in New York) is an American author, who lives with her husband, three children, a grandson, and a cat. She is best known for her award-winning novel for children, '' Chasing Vermeer''. She was born Elizabeth Balliett, but ...

, author of '' Chasing Vermeer'' * Anne Baxter, actor * Mary Ellin Barrett, novelist *

Mary Catherine Bateson Mary Catherine Bateson (December 8, 1939 – January 2, 2021) was an American writer and cultural anthropologist. The daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, Bateson was a noted author in her field with many published monographs. ...

, writer and anthropologist * Devika Bhise, actor *

Jenny Bicks Jenny Bicks is an American television producer and screenwriter, most notable for her work as a television writer on the HBO series, ''Sex and the City'' and the creator and writer of the ABC series, ''Men in Trees''. Her production company is ...

, screenwriter, '' What a Girl Wants'' and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'' * Susan Berresford, foundation executive *

Henrietta Buckmaster Henrietta Delancey Henkle, (10 March 1909 – 26 April 1983) better known by her pen name Henrietta Buckmaster, was an activist, journalist, and author best known for writing historical studies and novels. She was also active in the civil rights ...

, author * Mary Steichen Calderone, physician and public-health advocate *Oona O'Neill, Oona, Lady Chaplin, social leader *Eva Chen (editor), 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, New York City Public Advocate, 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), 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, Borough President, Manhattan Borough President *Sara Moulton, chef, author and television personality *Elisabeth Murdoch (businesswoman), 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, New York Interschool Association

References

External links

The Brearley School homepage
{{authority control 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)