Nightingale-Bamford

Research you can make

Fourth graders at Nightingale finish a research project that does not stop at the paper. After studying social-justice movements, a girl picks an influential person from them and researches that person in the library and online.

She takes notes, outlines, and writes the paper. Then mentor teachers from around the school help her make something from it.

The school's guide mentions a song, a dance or a picture book.

Nightingale-Bamford is a girls' school for kindergarten through grade 12 at 20 East 92nd Street in Manhattan.

A note on names: Nightingale numbers grades as Roman-numeral Classes; this guide uses ordinary grade numbers.

Lower school: skills alongside the song

Alongside the project, the Lower School runs daily instruction. English and reading are taught every day, with explicit phonics, writing taught step by step from brainstorming to publication, and reading as part of the daily homework.

Kindergartners start with reading readiness in small groups and keep a journal. The guide treats subject matter as practice material for skills, so creative work and basics sit side by side.

Related habits start early. Kindergartners get partner pals to help them find their way around the building, third grade adds note-taking and multi-paragraph writing, and in the library girls choose books by interest and reading level while building research skills through projects tied to class.

Middle school: learning how to study

Middle School teaches study methods alongside content: taking notes, managing time, building an argument and carrying out independent research.

All fifth graders take a year-long course on study tools and executive-functioning habits, and they also have small-group literacy and math instruction that can add support or challenge. Enrichment, a daily period, mixes extra-help labs, study halls and supervised activity time.

Each student also meets her advisor at least twice per schedule cycle, in a small group or one-on-one.

Sixth graders begin Latin, and the Middle School guide describes small-group study-skills work in grades 6–8 for students with a Latin exemption; if that could apply to your daughter, ask the school how it works.

Debate starts in fifth grade for every student. Sixth grade opens with a musical shared with boys from Allen-Stevenson.

In seventh grade, a one-semester library course teaches students to judge sources and unfamiliar websites.

Upper school: shared core, required capstone

In grades 9 and 10 every girl follows the same core: English, science, history, a world language and an integrated math program. Grades 11 and 12 open into electives.

The Senior Capstone is for everyone: a semester-long course in the spring of senior year built on independent research, a written component and a formal presentation at a school-wide colloquium. The finished form can vary, from a paper to a performance, prototype or portfolio, but the research and the writing do not.

Pathways are the optional layer. After grade 10 a student may apply for a STEM or Global Pathway for grades 11 and 12, so not every girl takes one.

A one-on-one advisor relationship begins in grade 10 and continues through the Upper School, and college counseling starts in grade 11.

Who can apply

For 2027–28 the FAQ lists kindergarten through grade 10; grades 1–4 depend on attrition, grade 11 applicants should contact admissions before submitting an application, and grade 12 isn't listed.

Kindergarten applicants must be five by September 1, 2027; the school says no exceptions are made.

The school accepts applications from students who identify as girls. For current students who identify as male or gender nonconforming, it describes individual conversations about fit and support rather than a fixed rule either way.

Applicants to grades 2–4 submit ISEE Primary scores.

What the application asks of a family

The admission application is due December 1, 2026, and the rest of the file, including test score reports, is due January 8, 2027. Applicants to grades 5 through 11 submit SSAT or ISEE scores taken after August 1, 2026. Full lists of transcripts, recommendations and essays are on the school's public application pages for kindergarten, grades 2–4, middle school and upper school.

Kindergarten applicants come for a group assessment of about 45 to 60 minutes, and the school says a caregiver or another adult may bring her. Parents separately take an in-person tour with a current parent, followed by a conversation with the admissions team; the visit runs about 90 minutes.

Middle and upper school applicants have two separate 45-minute appointments: a virtual family interview, which family members can join from different places, and an in-person tour of the building.

Cost and aid

The aid page prints tuition of $71,665 for 2026–27, so treat it as a benchmark, not a 2027–28 quote. It covers lunch and snacks, textbooks, class-wide overnight trips and iPads from grade 3 through 12.

Aid requires a complete Clarity application by December 1, 2026. Funds are limited, so not every applicant receives aid; awards last one year, renewal is not guaranteed, and a family admitted without applying cannot request aid for two years.

When parents live apart, each household files its own application, and if one parent has had no involvement for a long time, the custodial parent should complete the school's second-parent waiver form. Families with aid receive proportionate help with Hobbyhorse and the school's independent bus service.

The enrollment deposit, due with the signed contract, is nonrefundable: 20 percent of tuition without aid and 10 percent with aid.

Support, health and after-school care

Families with current accommodations are asked to share them; the school says that does not disadvantage the application, though Nightingale reviews accommodations itself, so an old plan is not automatically the same one. The building is accessible except the stage and the roof.

Health class begins in kindergarten; younger girls role-play naming feelings, setting boundaries and going to a trusted adult.

After school, paid Hobbyhorse workshops run 3:15 to 5:00 for kindergarten through grade 4, with extra care Monday through Thursday until 6:00. Thinkery, free for grades 4 through 8, is a supervised place open until 6:00 on school days for homework help and creative play; fourth graders are eligible for both.

Research choices and daytime help at Nightingale

Ask how much a student shapes her own research projects, and which kinds of academic help happen in the school day versus outside it.