International School of Brooklyn: Choose the Language Life—and the Grade 8 Exit

French and Spanish in practice

Immersion is graduated, and the percentages matter

Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4 use French or Spanish for 100% of core instruction. Kindergarten moves to 90% target language and 10% English.

Grades 1–3 use a published 75% target-language and 25% English split, followed by 50/50 in Grades 4 and 5.

Those percentages describe instruction, not a guaranteed level of individual fluency. The school says target-language teachers are native speakers and that the library holds about 14,000 books across French, Spanish, and English.

It does not publish annual external proficiency results by grade or track.

In the Grade 6–8 multilingual program, the school lists 57% English and 43% French and Spanish. A continuing student takes humanities, visual arts, and language study in the established target language.

The student also begins the other language as a third-language acquisition course in Grade 6.

The phrase “43% French and Spanish” can sound as if both languages share every content class. The detailed page is narrower: advanced students keep academic work in one established target language and add the other as a course.

Request an actual schedule for the French and Spanish pathways.

The Grade 6 beginner, or bilingual, route is 85% English and 15% French or Spanish. The student studies the new language from beginner through intermediate levels.

This is a meaningful language program, but it is not equivalent to joining the early immersion sequence eleven years late.

French- or Spanish-speaking children who are new to English can be accommodated through Grade 5. Middle School requires academic English.

The support page describes targeted help in English, French, or Spanish, usually in Lower School, but gives no weekly minutes, exit benchmarks, or fee policy.

A household does not need to speak the target language. ISB describes small-group language support, family resources, parent education, and a multilingual library.

Still, ask how homework directions, feedback, conferences, and urgent communications work for a non-speaking caregiver in your exact track.

The curriculum without the initials

PYP through Grade 5, then a three-year slice of MYP

The International Baccalaureate Organization lists ISB as an authorized PYP and MYP World School. The school combines those frameworks with New York State standards.

PYP runs from Pre-K 3 through Grade 5; MYP runs at ISB from Grade 6 through Grade 8.

PYP organizes learning around broad questions rather than keeping every subject in a separate box. Units connect mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, arts, and physical education.

The strength can be relevance and transfer; the parent task is checking how foundational scope and sequence stays visible inside the inquiry.

MYP students take eight groups: language and literature, individuals and societies, mathematics, sciences, physical and health education, language acquisition, arts, and design. Assessment uses subject criteria, feedback, and reflection.

Eighth grade ends with a service-focused Community Project.

Middle School science spans physical, life, and environmental science each year. Individuals and Societies combines world history, United States history, and geography.

Design uses digital and product work. Arts, health, and language remain part of the broad program rather than optional decorations.

This breadth can suit a student who likes connections and creating work. A student who wants early specialization, conventional letter grades, or a tightly textbook-led sequence may need more translation.

Ask to see one current unit, assessment rubric, marked student sample, and grade-level math progression.

ISB does not complete the five-year MYP sequence commonly associated with ages 11–16 because it ends after Grade 8. It also does not offer the Diploma Programme or Career-related Programme.

An eighth grader leaves with an ISB transcript and MYP experience, not an IB Diploma.

Daily family life

Three division schedules, a useful early opening, and an uneven late day

Pre-K runs 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Kindergarten through Grade 5 runs 8:30 to 3:30. Middle School runs 8:45 to 3:45, with an optional zero period from 8:15 to 8:45.

ISB describes the building as open from 8:00 to 6:00.

Free early drop-off begins at 8:20 for Pre-K and 8:00 for Kindergarten through Grade 5. Middle School students may enter at 8:15.

This is a practical advantage for siblings on different clocks, though families should ask how supervision works before each formal day begins.

After School Care serves Pre-K through Grade 5 until 6:00 on every full day. Families can buy trimester care, use drop-in care, or register first-come for separate enrichment classes.

The public page does not post the current care rate, drop-in price, minimum use, late fee, or closure calendar.

A school-posted sample catalog shows enrichment examples around $350 to $540 per trimester, but it is explicitly a sample rather than a current comprehensive rate card. Use it to understand the billing scale, not to budget a promised Fall 2027 class.

Middle School does not have the same published until-6:00 care guarantee. Students may use the Learning Commons or join athletics and other classes in the afternoon.

Ask which days are supervised, the exact closing time, registration limits, and what happens between dismissal and a later activity.

Middle School students meet an advisor daily. The counselor also contributes to Health, weekly assemblies, and grade-specific Skills classes.

Families receive progress reports after each semester, attend parent-teacher conferences in November and April, and join student-led conferences in June.

Athletics are open to all Middle School students, with fall soccer, volleyball, and cheer; winter basketball; and spring track and flag football. “Open to all” does not answer playing time, team capacity, fee, practice site, or late transportation.

Those details determine whether a commuter can participate.

Learning, language, and counseling

A visible support team, but no public service boundary

ISB lists a Student Support Coordinator, three divisional learning specialists, two counselors, a consulting psychologist, and a nurse. Learning specialists provide extra teaching or reteaching, collaborate with classroom teachers, and monitor progress.

Counseling may be individual, small-group, or consultative.

The school also works with outside SETSS providers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, clinical psychologists, and evaluators. That network can be valuable.

The public description does not say which providers work during school, who contracts with them, what insurance covers, or what a family pays.

Social-emotional support may include behavior plans, brief counseling, or outside referrals. The word “brief” matters.

ISB does not publish session limits, counselor caseloads, confidentiality rules, crisis coverage, or the point at which a child needs care beyond the school.

The site does not define which diagnosed needs the program can and cannot serve. It gives no admission-support policy, formal accommodation process, service intensity, learning-plan template, or appeal route.

A family with an IEP, 504 plan, evaluation, or ongoing therapy should request a written fit meeting before enrollment.

Immersion adds a diagnostic complication. Difficulty can reflect language acquisition, a learning difference, uneven prior instruction, or more than one factor.

Ask who distinguishes those possibilities, which language is used for assessment, and whether intervention can occur in English and the target language.

Our boundary read is cautious. ISB shows more support infrastructure than a bare referral model, but its public materials do not establish a capacity for intensive remediation, daily therapy, therapeutic schooling, or complex behavioral support.

Families should not infer that capacity from the size of the staff list.

Outcomes and the required next application

High-school placement is a program; the public results are a list

Eighth-grade families work with a High School Placement Director and the Middle School Director. ISB describes the process as multi-year and individualized.

Students consider independent day, religious, public, specialized public, and boarding schools rather than being steered to one category.

The school’s dedicated placement page lists high schools attended by alumni from the last four graduating classes. The admissions FAQ separately lists schools that offered admission over five years.

These are different measures, and neither page states the number of graduates behind the logos.

Recent destinations span Avenues, Berkeley Carroll, Brooklyn Friends, Brooklyn Latin, Brooklyn Tech, Dalton, LaGuardia, Packer, Saint Ann’s, Stuyvesant, Townsend Harris, UNIS, and many other public and independent schools. The range supports the claim that families pursue varied routes, but it cannot establish odds at any one school.

ISB also publishes colleges attended by alumni during the last three years. Those students passed through other high schools first, so the list is not an ISB college-placement result.

It lacks a cohort denominator, enrollment rate, persistence data, and any way to separate ISB’s contribution from later schooling.

A Grade 6 applicant gets only three years before the next application. Ask when placement counseling begins, how families build independent and public lists at the same time, who manages testing and recommendations, and how the school supports a child seeking a continued French, Spanish, or IB pathway.

For a family that values a clean K–12 runway, this exit is a cost. For a family that likes a smaller childhood school and wants an intentional Grade 9 reset, it can be an advantage.

The right interpretation depends on whether you welcome another competitive search in seventh and eighth grade.

Carroll Gardens, bus limits, and the trip home

The campus is coherent; the transportation benefit stops unevenly

ISB occupies a historic brick campus on Court Street in Carroll Gardens, with reception on Luquer Street. The school lists light-filled classrooms, a courtyard, learning garden, full-size gym, and dedicated art and music studios.

It does not advertise a theater, pool, regulation field, or dedicated science building.

The nearest subway is the F or G at Carroll Street; Smith–9th Streets is another option. The B57 and B61 serve the area.

Parking is difficult, and the school itself warns families about narrow streets, alternate-side rules, and restricted zones.

ISB partners with the New York City Department of Education for free bus service within roughly four miles. Kindergarten through Grade 5 may use morning and afternoon buses.

Sixth graders are eligible only in the morning; seventh- and eighth-grade students are not listed as eligible.

Published stops reach parts of Bed-Stuy, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Crown Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Park South, South Slope, and Windsor Terrace. Routes and eligibility should be rechecked annually.

More than half of students arrive by bike, transit, bus, or carpool, according to the school. That is not a commute-time guarantee.

Run the regular 3:45 trip and the activity-night trip later, especially for a Grade 6 family losing the afternoon school bus.

Lunch is optional. Families may pack food or buy hot meals from Little Green Gourmets, with regular, vegetarian, beef-free, and some allergy-sensitive menus.

Current prices and the added charge for special diets are not public on the school page.

What the public record does not settle

Several precise answers are still missing or internally inconsistent

Enrollment is the clearest live conflict. The admissions FAQ says 355 students.

The school history page says 386. The federal 2023–24 record counted 362.

These figures may reflect different dates or inclusions, but the pages do not label them well enough to reconcile.

The aid figure also shifts slightly. One current page says 32% of the student body received aid in 2025–26; the dedicated aid page says 33%.

That is likely rounding, but it should not be silently converted into one exact count.

Middle School beginner entry is not fully aligned. The FAQ describes first-time language options for Grades 6–8, while curriculum pages describe newcomers specifically in Grade 6.

Grade 7 and Grade 8 beginners need direct confirmation of eligibility and expected end level.

The school calls itself fully accredited, while the underlying claims have different organizations and scopes: IB PYP/MYP authorization, full-program Spanish recognition claimed by ISB, French recognition claimed only through Grade 5, NYSAIS oversight, and a New York charter. Ask the school to name the status, scope, and latest review date of each.

The 2026–27 family budget

The known floor is clear; the optional layer is not

ISB has not set 2027–28 tuition; it says the new rate will be determined in January 2027. The current 2026–27 benchmark is $40,206 for Pre-K 3, $42,125 for Pre-K 4, $47,626 for Kindergarten through Grade 5, and $52,537 for Grades 6–8.

A $5,000 enrollment deposit secures the place and is credited against tuition, so it is a cash-flow requirement rather than an added fee. The required Parents’ Association fee is $100 per family.

Every Middle School student also pays a $150 annual laptop fee.

The known school-year floor is therefore $47,726 for one Kindergarten-to-Grade-5 child and $52,787 for one Middle School child. Add the $75 application fee for a first-year decision budget of $47,801 or $52,862.

These figures exclude optional services and assume no aid.

Tuition covers books, supplies, classroom materials, early drop-off, school-day field trips, Grades 4–7 overnight trips, and the Grade 8 international trip. That inclusion is meaningful: the signature travel program does not sit as a surprise mandatory trip charge on the published list.

Optional charges include lunch, aftercare, enrichment, Middle School athletics, and some payment plans. Paying in two installments adds $50; paying over ten months adds $110.

The school does not post a single current price sheet for lunch, care, clubs, teams, late pickup, or special-diet fees.

Fundraising belongs in the honest budget conversation even when it is voluntary. ISB says tuition does not cover its full educational cost and seeks community support.

Ask about the expected annual fund, auction, class gifts, and whether participation pressure feels comfortable to your household.

Tuition assistance

Aid reaches one third of students and extends beyond tuition

For 2025–26, ISB reports more than $3.4 million in need-based aid reaching 33% of students. Awards range from 5% to 95% of tuition.

The school does not publish the average grant, median grant, demand, denial rate, or share of calculated need met.

Clarity considers income, assets, household size, housing, business finances, retirement contributions, medical expenses, and other obligations. ISB’s committee uses that estimate with tax documentation.

An appeal process exists when the initial award does not reflect the family’s situation.

The income chart is more helpful than a single cutoff. ISB says 87% of current aid families have gross household income below $350,000: 32% below $150,000, 31% between $150,000 and $250,000, and 24% between $250,000 and $350,000.

Income alone does not determine an award.

The same award percentage applies to fee-charging aftercare, lunch, athletics, and summer programming. That policy makes the student experience more accessible than tuition-only aid.

Ask whether enrichment classes, every team, special diets, and registration fees all receive the same treatment.

A family that enrolls without applying for aid is generally expected not to apply during the first two years, absent a major financial change. This is a significant planning rule.

If affordability is uncertain, apply in the admission year rather than hoping to seek help after signing.

French citizens may also seek the French government Bourse for Pre-K 3 through Grade 5. ISB tells those families to complete Clarity as well.

International families without United States tax returns may apply for school aid using alternate financial documents.

Kindergarten, Grade 6, and Grade 9

K and Grade 6 are real entry decisions; Grade 9 is elsewhere

ISB names the Preschool years, including Kindergarten, as its most common entry points. Kindergarten applicants may be complete beginners in French or Spanish.

Children must turn five by September 1 of the entry year, making the Fall 2027 birth window September 2, 2021 through September 1, 2022.

Grade 6 is the school’s confirmed later entry point and the start of Middle School. It is also the only publicly described bridge for a student without prior French or Spanish.

The school does not publish how many sixth-grade seats it adds, how many go to beginners, or how many applicants compete for each language route.

Grade 9 is not an ISB entry point because ISB stops at Grade 8. A family seeking Grade 9 must apply to public, specialized, independent, religious, international, or boarding high schools.

That second admissions process is a design feature of a Pre-K–8 school, not a remote future detail.

Applications are accepted in other grades when space permits. That sentence needs two filters.

Grades 1–5 require grade-level French or Spanish literacy, and no grade-level openings or historic offer counts are public. “We accept applications” is not the same as “we expand the class.”

The federal 2023–24 record counted 33 Kindergarten students and 40 sixth graders, but those are enrollment totals, not new-seat counts. They cannot establish admission odds.

Ask for the number of continuing students, openings, applicants, offers, enrolled newcomers, and wait-list movement in your exact track.

The current admissions calendar

Fall 2027 dates are live, with one priority round

Applications opened September 1, 2026. The initial online application is due December 7 at 11:59 p.m., and the remaining file is due January 8, 2027.

Applications completed later move to rolling review after priority decisions, space permitting.

Kindergarten decisions arrive February 4, with replies due February 11. Grades 1–8 receive decisions February 10 and have until February 26 to reply.

ISB follows the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York calendar.

The applicant tuition-assistance file is due January 8, the same day as supplemental admissions materials. Aid applications opened October 1.

Families hear about admission and aid together in February, which is the right sequence for comparing an offer as a financial package.

ISB continues to consider 2026–27 applicants in grades with space. For Fall 2027, a file completed by January 8 may still enter the priority round even if the online application arrived after December 7.

Confirm that status in the portal rather than assuming a late file has equal timing.

Kindergarten

A playgroup and parent interview, without standardized testing

The Kindergarten application uses Veracross and costs $75. Parents are encouraged to tour, complete a family questionnaire, schedule a 20-to-30-minute parent interview, request the ISAAGNY preschool report, and bring the child to a 45-minute playgroup.

An out-of-area family may submit a play video instead.

The playgroup includes open-ended play, a group activity, songs, and a story. Parents wait separately over refreshments.

ISB does not publish the number of children in a group, the observer rubric, how language-track balance enters the decision, or how much the parent interview weighs.

No French or Spanish is required. The school says it balances native speakers, beginners, and children between those points.

Ask whether the two tracks have separate seat pools and how the team defines a balanced class when siblings receive special consideration.

No age group submits standardized testing. Prepare a child for the setting, not a performance.

The useful parent work is deciding whether your five-year-old will enjoy learning most of the Kindergarten day in a language they may not yet understand.

Grades 1–8

The language gate closes in Lower School and reopens differently in Middle School

Grades 1–5 require a teacher recommendation, prior and current report cards, a parent interview, and a 60-to-90-minute morning visit. Applicants complete classroom time plus speaking, listening, reading, and writing work in French or Spanish.

Grades 3–5 also submit recent English and target-language schoolwork.

The operative Lower School standard is stronger than “some exposure.” Applicants should speak, read, and write in French or Spanish at grade level.

A heritage speaker with strong conversation but limited formal literacy may not meet it, and a child in a light-touch enrichment program probably will not.

Middle School applicants answer student questions and provide school records. Sixth graders request one current teacher recommendation; seventh- and eighth-grade applicants request English or humanities and math recommendations.

The morning visit includes two classes, a short interview, and an English writing exercise.

A fluent French or Spanish speaker seeking the multilingual route also completes a language assessment. A beginner does not.

All Middle School applicants need academic fluency in English, a meaningful boundary for a newly arrived student who is still acquiring English.

The admissions FAQ says Middle School offers first-time French or Spanish study in Grades 6–8. The program page describes the beginner route specifically for students who join in Grade 6.

This leaves Grade 7 and Grade 8 beginner eligibility unclear; ask before paying the fee.

ISB publishes no test-score cutoff because it requires no admission test. It also publishes no evaluation rubric, admission rate, or seat count.

A family should describe the child honestly and ask how records, writing, language placement, classroom participation, and support needs combine in the final decision.