Grace Church School

How big is a whale?

Junior kindergarteners at Grace carry a long string through the building, testing which spaces could hold a whale. In a mammal unit they compare a beluga, a humpback and the blue whale, the biggest animal ever.

The play yard and a stairwell are two candidates the school mentions.

The string makes size a practical question: could a whale fit across the yard, or up the stairwell? The same unit has children put hands in cold water to test how blubber insulates, and use tuning forks to study how sound travels in water.

Beneath the projects: reading and math

Underneath the hands-on science, the early-childhood pages describe a plainer structure. Reading is taught with explicit attention to sounds, phonics, handwriting and spelling, while knowledge comes from themed units and read-alouds.

The youngest children work through play, song and story; kindergartners run phonics and writing mechanics alongside content vocabulary; first graders add daily narrative and opinion writing.

Math follows the same two-track habit. Junior kindergarten folds counting and pattern into seasonal themes; kindergarten has a dedicated daily math period with interview-style checks on each child's progress; first grade moves to addition and subtraction fluency, fractions and logic puzzles.

The emphasis is as much on sticking with a problem as on getting it right, the sort of goal that turns up at the kitchen table.

High school: Lab Studies and IP10

Different ages are asked to do different things, and high school is where choice moves to the student. Every Wednesday, high schoolers take Lab Studies, a required four-year, project-driven program.

Ninth and tenth graders follow set courses that introduce its themes, such as sustainability and service; juniors and seniors choose electives instead.

Sophomores undertake IP10: most of the year goes to a self-directed research project on a topic the student picks, presented to the community at a spring symposium.

The school's account of an IP10 evening offers one example among dozens: a sophomore who ran five clothing drives in downtown schools and collected close to 800 pounds for Xavier Mission.

That is a logistics project before it is a generosity project, and it shows what the format asks: choosing something, sustaining it, and presenting it.

Chapel and belief

Chapel is part of the weekly rhythm. Junior kindergarten through eighth grade attend weekly; high school every other week.

Services draw on Episcopal liturgy: Hebrew and Christian scripture alongside other traditions' readings, hymns, an invitation to the Lord's Prayer, and student music, readings and prayers in the older grades. Families of all faiths and none are welcome, and the school says students need not set aside their own beliefs.

If you have concerns about how your child would take part, ask the chaplain how they are handled.

Religion is also a subject. The school says it teaches about all religions, and eighth graders spend ten weeks on a Worldview Paper, five to eight pages on one aspect of what they personally believe or value.

Support, by age

Grace calls itself a general education school, so support is built into ordinary teaching. In early childhood, a literacy specialist, a learning specialist and a counselor work with the division head and teachers to monitor every child, mostly in class or small groups.

Short-term individual help follows a guidance committee recommendation. First graders also have a small-group Learning Lab after school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Middle school has a literacy specialist, a learning specialist and a counselor of its own. Short-term individual help can follow a recommendation from the division head or the guidance committee, and a drop-in Learning Lab, Monday through Wednesday, offers small-group help with math, reading, writing and organization.

High school looks different. There are subject centers for math, science and writing, two learning specialists during the school day, two counselors, and an office for students with documented learning differences, including Section 504 plans, IEPs or a history of testing accommodations.

The school says records stay confidential and go only to the student's core academic team.

The two campuses and aftercare

The school has two downtown Manhattan campuses: junior kindergarten through eighth grade at 86 Fourth Avenue, near Union Square, and the high school at 46 Cooper Square, near Astor Place. If you would have children at both, ask how the two schedules and any after-school care fit a real commute.

For early childhood, the Grace After School Program runs Monday through Friday from dismissal until 5:30 p.m., with classes such as drama, ceramics and cooking, plus a daily snack; a supervised play group offers more flexible coverage.

Safeguarding

Grace has publicly acknowledged that the school and Grace Church failed to protect students from abuse in the 1990s. In October 2019, after a report from one graduate, the two jointly commissioned an independent investigation, and they also set up an external review committee to examine how children are kept safe.

The full investigation report, its executive summary and the review report are published.

Today, it says, it has reporting systems and protocols, background screening for new hires, training that goes past the legal baseline, and health lessons and parent education on healthy relationships and consent. Those are the school's claims.

Ask what has changed since the review's recommendations and how the school shows families that it has followed through.

Applying

Applications for 2027–28 opened September 1, 2026; the preliminary application is due December 1, 2026 and supplementary materials by January 8, 2027. The application page carries the full checklist.

Main entry years are junior kindergarten, kindergarten, fifth and ninth grade; other grades through eleventh depend on space.

Kindergartners turn five by September 1, junior kindergartners four. Kindergarten children are interviewed in small groups on site and parents by Zoom; standardized testing is not required through fourth grade.

Grades five through eight use Zoom interviews, require ISEE or SSAT scores, and ask for responses to three essay prompts.

Grades nine through eleven offer an on-site or Zoom interview; the school says the choice of interview format has no bearing on the decision. Applicants need ISEE or SSAT scores and a 500–750 word essay.

Only qualifying junior kindergarten families receive early notification: a current or former sibling, an alumnus parent, or a parent on faculty or staff.

Cost and aid

Published tuition for 2026–27 is $71,570. The 2027–28 rate has not yet been published.

Aid is need-based and depends on available funds. Families indicate interest on the Grace application and apply through Clarity; prospective applications are due December 1, 2026, and an award arrives with the admissions decision.

The $100 application fee is waived for prospective aid applicants.

A family that enrolls without aid cannot apply until after three years of attendance unless circumstances change significantly, and a new applicant with unpaid obligations at a previous school cannot be considered for aid until those are settled in full.

Returning families apply again by October 15, 2026, through the same process, and awards come with re-enrollment contracts.

Aid recipients are offered a discounted after-school rate rather than automatic coverage.

Grace Church on documented needs and what aid covers

Ask who reads your child's paperwork and what support follows, and what an aid award covers beyond tuition.