Spence School
Encyclopedia
The Spence School is an American all-girls independent
school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence.
, 5-8 representing the Middle School
, and 9-12 representing the Upper School
. Lower school average class sizes are 16-18 and middle and upper school averaging 13-14. The student: teacher ratio is 7:1 and students of color in all grades make up approximately 17 percent of the student body. The school is popular with elite families in New York City. The tuition is approximately $37,000. Its sister schools are the all-girls Brearley School
, the all-girls Chapin School and the all-boys Collegiate School, all in New York City. Forbes
magazine ranked Spence ninth on its 2010 list of the best prep schools in America.
is "non scholae sed vitae discimus" (Latin
for "Not for school, but for life we learn"). The first building was located on New York City's West 48th Street.
Clara B. Spence described her school as: "A place not of mechanical instruction, but a school of character where the common requisites for all have been human feeling, a sense of humor and the spirit of intellectual and moral adventure."
The Carnegie family donated their tennis court to be used as a playground for Spence. When the school wanted to expand and build on the lot in the 1990s, they built a new playground on the roof of the new building to meet the stipulations of the gift. The school has been located on East 91st Street since 1929.
In a Worth
magazine study, out of the 31,700 private and public high schools in the United States, Spence ranked the sixth most successful school in the country in placing its graduates in Harvard, Yale
and Princeton
.
The top most frequently attended colleges and universities for Spence graduates from 2006-2010 were: University of Pennsylvania
(14), Princeton University
(13), Duke University
(12), Cornell University
(10), Dartmouth
(10), Harvard University
(7), Yale University
(6), Stanford University
(5), and Brown University
(5).
The chess team in April 2008 finished first in the National All-Girls Chess Championship in Dallas, Texas
.
The Varsity Volleyball team finished first in the New York State Championships in 2008-2009 school year.
The Varsity Volleyball team also finished first in the New York State Championships in 2009-2010 school year.
The Grade 6 chess team won 7th place in the U.S. Chess Federation National K-12 Championship during the 2008-2009 school year. to the Page
The Middle School Swim Team has won the AAIS Championships 9 out fo the last 10 years..
The Grade 6 chess team in April 2009 finished second in the National All-Girls Chess Championship in Dallas, Texas.
The Spence School campus is currently located in three buildings in the Carnegie Hill Historic District on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan
. The Upper School (9-12) and Middle School (5-8) are housed a half block from Central Park
/5th Avenue at 20 East 91st Street, next to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. The Lower School (K-4) is housed in the renovated landmark building William Goadby Loew House
on East 93rd Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue. On April 28, 2008, the Spence School announced the acquisition of a third building through the purchase of the Wanamaker Munn townhouse at 17 East 90th Street, directly behind the Upper and Middle School facility. The new townhouse is connected to the main 91st Street building, and construction will be completed during the 2011-2012 academic year, with much of the new facility already being used for various academic programs. On September 16, 2011, the Spence School announced the purchase of a fourth building, a very large space located at 412 East 90th Street, that will become a state of the art physical education facility (with multiple gyms, courts and fields) within the next several years.
, adjacent to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum
(originally the Andrew Carnegie mansion), and across the street from the Consulate General of Russia. The location (5th Avenue and 91st Street) has been used as a backdrop in several movies and television shows including
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence.
Overview
Spence has about 688 students, with K-4 representing the Lower SchoolElementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
, 5-8 representing the Middle School
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
, and 9-12 representing the Upper School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. Lower school average class sizes are 16-18 and middle and upper school averaging 13-14. The student: teacher ratio is 7:1 and students of color in all grades make up approximately 17 percent of the student body. The school is popular with elite families in New York City. The tuition is approximately $37,000. Its sister schools are the all-girls Brearley School
Brearley School
The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, New York, United States. It is located on the Upper East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City. The school is divided into the Lower School , Middle School and Upper School...
, the all-girls Chapin School and the all-boys Collegiate School, all in New York City. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine ranked Spence ninth on its 2010 list of the best prep schools in America.
History
The Spence School was founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence, who was its head for 31 years. The school was once boarding, and its mottoMotto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
is "non scholae sed vitae discimus" (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "Not for school, but for life we learn"). The first building was located on New York City's West 48th Street.
Clara B. Spence described her school as: "A place not of mechanical instruction, but a school of character where the common requisites for all have been human feeling, a sense of humor and the spirit of intellectual and moral adventure."
The Carnegie family donated their tennis court to be used as a playground for Spence. When the school wanted to expand and build on the lot in the 1990s, they built a new playground on the roof of the new building to meet the stipulations of the gift. The school has been located on East 91st Street since 1929.
Academics
Spence offers a liberal arts and science curriculum, including programs in the arts and foreign languages. Computers are integrated into the curriculum in the Kindergarten class and continue through the twelfth grade. In addition, English courses include Asian, African, African American, Latin American, and Middle Eastern Literature. In the Upper School most students, even though not required, take four years of math and science. Beginning in 2007-08, Mandarin Chinese was added to the teaching of French, Spanish and Latin. Foreign language requirements begin in the third grade with either French, Spanish, or Chinese and in the seventh grade both Latin and Mandarin Chinese become electives as the students continue their study of foreign language. A specialized computer/robotics course also becomes an elective in the seventh grade.In a Worth
Worth (magazine)
Worth is an American wealth management magazine for high net worth individuals. It is published on a bi-monthly basis and circulated to over 110,000 recipients.-History:Worth was founded in 1992 as a wealth management magazine for high net worth individuals...
magazine study, out of the 31,700 private and public high schools in the United States, Spence ranked the sixth most successful school in the country in placing its graduates in Harvard, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
and Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
The top most frequently attended colleges and universities for Spence graduates from 2006-2010 were: University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
(14), Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(13), Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(12), Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(10), Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
(10), Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(7), Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(6), Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
(5), and Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
(5).
Co-curricular activities
The Varsity Tennis team won the 2011 Athletic Association of Independent Schools of New York City (AAIS) Tournament Championship for the 2010-2011 school year.The chess team in April 2008 finished first in the National All-Girls Chess Championship in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
The Varsity Volleyball team finished first in the New York State Championships in 2008-2009 school year.
The Varsity Volleyball team also finished first in the New York State Championships in 2009-2010 school year.
The Grade 6 chess team won 7th place in the U.S. Chess Federation National K-12 Championship during the 2008-2009 school year. to the Page
The Middle School Swim Team has won the AAIS Championships 9 out fo the last 10 years..
The Grade 6 chess team in April 2009 finished second in the National All-Girls Chess Championship in Dallas, Texas.
Campus
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The Upper School (9-12) and Middle School (5-8) are housed a half block from Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
/5th Avenue at 20 East 91st Street, next to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. The Lower School (K-4) is housed in the renovated landmark building William Goadby Loew House
William Goadby Loew House
The William Goadby Loew House was a mansion located on 56 East 93rd Street in New York City. It was constructed for William Goadby Loew. Formerly known as Smithers Alcoholism Center, today the Spence School is located there....
on East 93rd Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue. On April 28, 2008, the Spence School announced the acquisition of a third building through the purchase of the Wanamaker Munn townhouse at 17 East 90th Street, directly behind the Upper and Middle School facility. The new townhouse is connected to the main 91st Street building, and construction will be completed during the 2011-2012 academic year, with much of the new facility already being used for various academic programs. On September 16, 2011, the Spence School announced the purchase of a fourth building, a very large space located at 412 East 90th Street, that will become a state of the art physical education facility (with multiple gyms, courts and fields) within the next several years.
Notable alumnae
- Elizabeth MontgomeryElizabeth MontgomeryElizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.-Early life:Born in Los...
, actress - Ellen Sparry Brush, pioneer anthropologist, first woman to become a member of the Explorers Club in NYC
- Eleanor A. Campbell, M.D., physician and founder Judson Health CenterJudson Health CenterJudson Health Center, founded in 1921, was an early New York City Community Health Center inspired by the Rev. Alonzo Ray Petty of the baptist Judson Memorial Church located at 55 Washington Square South. Petty appealed to fellow baptist and physician Eleanor A...
, daughter of Elizabeth Milbank AndersonElizabeth Milbank AndersonElizabeth Milbank Anderson , philanthropist and advocate for public health and women's education, was the daughter of Jeremiah Milbank , a successful commission merchant, manufacturer and investor, and Elizabeth Lake... - Huguette M. ClarkHuguette M. ClarkHuguette Marcelle Clark , was the youngest daughter of former U.S. Senator and industrialist William A. Clark. She lived a reclusive life after 1930 and her activities were virtually unknown to the public. Upon her death in 2011, Clark left behind a vast fortune, most of which was donated to charity...
, heiress and socialite - Dawn French, British comedienne, star of French & SaundersFrench & SaundersFrench and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
, Vicar of Dibley and Ex wife of Lenny HenryLenny HenryLenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :... - Helen Clay FrickHelen Clay FrickHelen Clay Frick was an American philanthropist.She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the third child of the coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick and Adelaide Howard Childs . She grew up at the family's Pittsburgh estate, Clayton, although the family later moved to New York City in 1905...
, daughter of Henry Clay FrickHenry Clay FrickHenry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern... - Francine du Plessix GrayFrancine du Plessix Gray-Biography:She was born September 25, 1930 in Warsaw, Poland where her father, Vicomte Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix, was a French diplomat - the commercial attaché. She spent her early years in Paris, where a milieu of mixed cultures and a multilingual family influenced her...
, author - Lauren Helm, M.D., psychiatrist and former fashion model
- Nancy HopkinsNancy HopkinsNancy Hopkins was an aviator. She was the president of the International Women's Air and Space Museum and a member of United Flying Octogenarians.-Birth:...
, molecular biologist - Rita White Matthews, scientist and explorer
- Alley MillsAlley MillsAlley Mills is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series The Wonder Years.-Life and career:...
, actress (The Wonder YearsThe Wonder YearsThe Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
) - Frederica L. Miller,ESQ criminal defense attorney and a former Assistant District Attorney in NYC.
- Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
, actress - Marjorie Lake Post, philanthropist
- Emmanuelle Grey "Emmy" RossumEmmy RossumEmmanuelle Grey "Emmy" Rossum is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She first starred in a string of movies including Songcatcher , An American Rhapsody, and Passionada . However, it was her role in Mystic River that garnered her wider recognition...
, actress (The Phantom of the Opera) - Kerry WashingtonKerry WashingtonKerry Washington is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray , as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm, The Thing, in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007...
, actress - Sally PressmanSally Pressman-Career:As a child, she attended Spence School for girls in New York. She was classically trained in ballet and was a member of the Manhattan Ballet Company. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater studies from Yale University, where she also participated in such productions as The...
, actress - Serena AltschulSerena AltschulSerena Altschul is an American broadcast journalist, well known for her work at MTV News. She is the daughter of author Siri von Reis and Arthur Altschul, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.-Career:...
, broadcast journalist - Jade JaggerJade JaggerJade Sheena Jezebel Jagger is an English jewelry designer, socialite and former model.-Early life:Jagger was born in Paris, France. She is the only child of Bianca , a Nicaraguan-born actress and philanthropist, and Mick Jagger, an English musician and actor...
, jewelry designer and daughter of Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and Bianca JaggerBianca JaggerBianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model... - Mary Ellis PeltzMary Ellis PeltzMary Ellis Peltz was an American drama and music critic, magazine editor, poet and writer on music. Born Mary Ellis Opdycke, Peltz was educated at the Spence School and Barnard College . At the age of 24 she joined the staff of The New York Sun as assistant music critic. She left the paper in 1924...
, music critic, poet, and first chief editor of Opera NewsOpera NewsOpera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
Affiliated organizations
- National Association of Girls' Schools
- New York Association of Independent Schools
- National Coalition of Girls' Schools
- New York InterschoolNew York InterschoolThe New York Interschool Association, Inc., is a consortium of eight independent schools in Manhattan that serves students, teachers, and administration.-Overview:...
Spence in film and television
The main building of the Spence School (the Upper and Middle School) is on East 91st Street, one half block from 5th Avenue/Central ParkCentral Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, adjacent to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States' national museum of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on contemporary and historic design...
(originally the Andrew Carnegie mansion), and across the street from the Consulate General of Russia. The location (5th Avenue and 91st Street) has been used as a backdrop in several movies and television shows including
- The Anderson Tapes (1971, starring Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
) - This movie was directed by Sidney LumetSidney LumetSidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
who later sent his eldest daughter (Amy Lumet) to Spence. She graduated from Spence in 1982. - Marathon Man (1974, starring Dustin HoffmanDustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
) - the opening car chase end in a ball of fire that was filmed directly in front of Spence. - Arthur (1981, starring Liza MinnelliLiza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
and Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
- The Cooper-Hewitt Museum played the role of Arthur's family mansion, and there is a good view of Spence in the background. - Working Girl (1988, starring Melanie GriffithMelanie GriffithMelanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner for her performance in the 1988 film Working Girl...
, Sigourney WeaverSigourney WeaverSigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
and Harrison FordHarrison FordHarrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
) - Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford crash a weddingWedding crashingWedding crashing is the act of coming to a wedding without an invitation.-In real life:Some of the most common reasons for crashing a wedding in real life are:...
filmed in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, but Spence is clearly visible. - A Perfect MurderA Perfect MurderA Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely...
(1998, starring Michael Douglas and (Spence alum) Gwyneth Paltrow. Their residence is the building across the street, but Spence is visible in some shots. During filming Gwyneth visited Spence and a photo of her embracing her HS advisor was printed in the NY newspaper) - Uptown Girls (2003, starring Brittany MurphyBrittany MurphyBrittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
and Dakota FanningDakota FanningHannah Dakota Fanning , better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web...
) - the exterior serves as Dakota Fanning's character's school. - Gossip Girl (2008 - 2011) - the exterior serves as a backdrop to many episodes of the television series, and, as the producers of the show have noted, many aspects of the Spence School have been highly influential in the creation of the show, including the green plaid jumpers and blue skirts, which are the official Spence uniform styles for the Lower and Middle schools, respectively.