Brearley School

The Brearley School

Motto	By Truth and Toil
Established	1884
Type	Private Girls' School
Founder	Samuel Brearley
Headmistress	Stephanie J. Hull
Faculty	110
Grades	kindergarten — grade 12
Location	610 East 83rd Street, New York City, NY, USA
District	N/A
Colors	red and white
Mascot	Beaver
Newspaper	The Zephyr
Website	http://www.brearley.org

The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, New York, United States. It is located on the Upper East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City. The school is divided into the Lower School (kindergarten — grade 4), Middle School (grades 5 — 8) and Upper School (grades 9 — 12). There are approximately 670 students enrolled with about fifty students per grade.

The school, despite its relative youth, is considered the sister school of the Collegiate School, the U.S.'s oldest independent school (founded 1628). Brearley is a member of the New York Interschool Association. Brearley is considered perhaps one of the most prestigious schools for girls in the United States.^[1][2]

History

Samuel A. Brearley founded The Brearley School in 1884, and he remained the head of school until 1886 when he died of typhoid. 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, followed by Jean Fair Mitchell, Evelyn J. Halpert, and Priscilla M. Winn Barlow and, since 2003, the current head is Stephanie J. Hull.^[3]

In the early 1900s, it outgrew its original quarters on East 45th Street, first moving to West 44th Street and then in 1912 to Park Avenue and East 61st Street, where the primary program was added. The school commissioned a new building in 1929 on East 83rd Street. During the eighty years at that location, it has expanded its art and sciences facilities, library, and added two stories to the building. In the early 2000s it built a Field House on East 87th Street containing regulation-sized basketball and volleyball courts and other facilities.

In the mid-20th Century, Dr. Benjamin Spock served as Brearley's school doctor, and the actor Mildred Dunnock (Death of a Salesman) served as a drama teacher.^[4]

Academics

The school's curriculum is based on the liberal arts. The school's low 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio helps the school's teachers be fully attentive to their students.^[5] There are no classes specifically at “honors” or “advanced-placement” level, because the regular classes prepare students for a broad range of advanced-placement examinations.^[6]

Languages offered are Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. In the fall of 2004, the school piloted a new program that incorporated the use of iPods in language classes, allowing students to download portable audio lessons.^[7] The school offers art, music, and drama classes, based on their own "art floor". ^[8]

Students have access to two large computer laboratories — one serving the Lower School, the other the Middle and Upper Schools. In addition, there are three smaller computer workrooms, as well as the science-projects room and laptops for use in the library and classrooms.^[9]

A 2008 survey by The New York Sun listed Brearley as the top private school in New York City, the only school in the survey to receive a score of A+.^[10]

The school's median SAT Reasoning Test (SAT) scores were 727 in critical reading and 690 in mathematics.^[11]

Brearley is also traditionally fierce rivals with its neighboring school, Chapin

College rankings and attendance

Brearley is ranked number two by The Wall Street Journal based on its ranking of students matriculating to eight national universities and liberal-arts colleges (Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pomona College, Princeton University, Swarthmore College, The University of Chicago and Williams College)^[12]. It is ranked number two by Worth magazine in sending students to Harvard, Yale University or Princeton.^[13]

Top college destinations from 2004 to 2008

^[14]

1. Harvard University (24)
2. Yale University (21)
3. Princeton University (13)
4. Columbia University (11)
5. The University of Chicago (9)
6. Cornell University (7)
7. Georgetown University (7)
8. Swarthmore College (7)
9. Brown University (6)
10. Duke University (6)
11. Macalester College (6)
12. Stanford University (6)
13. University of Pennsylvania (6)

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. In 2005, both the Varsity Volleyball and Varsity Cross-Country Teams won state championships. The Junior-Varsity Volleyball Team remained undefeated throughout its season, and won its tournament in 2007. The Varsity Cross-Country team won the New York State Championship again in the fall of 2006, 2007, and once again in 2008. The Middle School Basketball Team were the first-ever New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association Middle School Champions in 2009.

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

Clubs, committees and common-interest organizations