The Brearley School

Start with the press

Brearley's art department owns a vintage printing press that spent time in a storeroom. In the school's account of its renovated art floor, the press now has a nook of its own, and Class IX (ninth grade) students made monoprints on it for a spring show.

The department chair says it has been used more in one year than in the previous three combined, because students can see it.

The press is a concrete way into the department's slower work. Class X (tenth grade) students drew from its still lifes in charcoal, and photography students develop film and print it in a darkroom, where they are asked to slow down and think about how a lens differs from an eye.

The early years and the middle years

Kindergarten pairs early literacy with real play time. Read-alouds, phonics, sight words and handwriting practice sit alongside block building and dramatic play.

Art starts as a trimester-long introduction to painting, drawing and careful observation.

In middle school, two structures matter for planning. Math splits into two sections from Class VI (sixth grade) on, covering the same content: VI Math gives more scaffolding and practice, while VI Extended pushes further into abstract thinking.

The school says both groups can take calculus in Class XII.

Language works differently: Class V (fifth grade) students start French or Spanish or continue Mandarin, but some students take the two-year Reading and Writing Practicum instead, with explicit teaching in reading, writing and executive functioning.

Counseling here means classroom lessons on social-emotional topics, short-term counseling when appropriate, and referrals to outside providers, with division heads, the Learning Skills Department and counselors working together. If your child may need more than that, ask the division head what it would look like for them.

Senior Spring

At the other end of the school, Class XII (twelfth grade) designs its own spring. From April through June, seniors build programs from minicourses, internships or both.

Lola Hagen's account describes a musical as the main project, with an acting class, a playwriting minicourse, a role in the spring MainStage production and meetings with a project advisor around it.

Finding a quiet room with a piano before rehearsal took real effort; the green room was the usual landing place until a ninth- or tenth-grade band claimed it. Lola was not sure a full musical was within reach and attempted it anyway.

Three doors, three processes

Kindergarten is built around visits. A parent tour and interview take about 90 minutes, and the applicant visits separately for 45 minutes with a small group doing familiar school activities.

A parent need not attend that visit; a caregiver or family member can bring the child. The current school sends a confidential report on Brearley's form or the ISAAGNY form, and the record-release form becomes available in the Ravenna portal starting October 15.

The early-notification date, a kindergarten option for sibling and legacy families, has passed.

For Classes V through IX, an interview with the applicant and at least one parent or guardian is required; a campus tour is optional. Applicants take the ISEE or SSAT, and the school suggests a test date no later than December so the file can be complete by January 8.

English and math teacher reference links open November 2 on the portal. Transcripts come from the current school, plus the previous school for Class IX.

Skip extra materials, first-choice letters and gifts; the school says committees do not consider additional materials, and it does not share first-choice letters with them. The interview and, for kindergarten, the applicant visit are in person with no virtual alternative.

Qualified candidates stay in a wait pool through June.

Eligibility and continuing enrollment

Brearley's gender diversity statement says the school will consider applicants who identify as girls.

For an enrolled student who later no longer identifies as a girl, it commits to supporting the child and family, working to honor the student's chosen name and pronouns in personal communication, and revisiting with the family, especially near a change of division, whether a girls' school is still the best fit.

It also expects continuing students to support the school's history and mission.

Tuition and aid

Tuition covers lunch, books, devices, trips, clubs, orchestra and chorus, and after-school classes, sports and arts. Aid is reviewed one household at a time, and income is only one input: the school also weighs assets, expenses, family size and siblings in tuition-charging schools.

Admission is decided first, and applying for aid does not affect it; admitted aid applicants get both notices together. Aid applicants waive the $85 application fee with code FA2026.

Each household files its own Clarity application, whatever the number of applicant children. Parents or guardians who live apart file separately, with separate tax returns and enrollment-contract signatures.

If one parent has had no involvement for an extended period, the custodial parent can request a waiver form at financialaid@brearley.org and document the situation.

The school day and the commute

Lower School is at 590 East 83rd Street, Middle and Upper Schools at 610, and the field house a few blocks away on East 87th.

After school, students in K–IV have the Beaver Den Monday through Thursday, with classes at 3:15–4:00 for K–I and 4:15–5:00 for II–IV, and Extended Day until 5:45; Fridays are Play and Crafts.

Confirm which after-school care is included in tuition and which carries a separate charge; ask how aid applies to the care your family needs.

New York City students who live at least half a mile away get an OMNY card from the Department of Education. Brooklyn families can choose a private bus shared with Chapin; it costs extra, but aid recipients can receive aid for it.

Age cutoffs, assessments and placement at Brearley

Ask Brearley to confirm its Kindergarten cutoff and assessments for 2027–28, the coming year's tuition, and how Class VI placement works.