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, middle and upper 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 June 2011, headmistress Stephanie J. Hull resigned for undisclosed reasons.
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 2019r, 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 maroon and white, and its mascot is a beaver.

Notable alumnae