LD: Good morning Kate. Thank you for inviting me to Wetherby-Pembridge School here in New York, I’m very excited. The building is amazing, and the uniform, with its slight variation on the Wetherby style is so smart!
Can you tell me what age the children are able to start the school? What age does the school go up to currently and eventually? Do you make the children sit entrance exams? And finally, please explain the academic syllabus that is being taught here: a British school in America.
KB: We are a co-ed independent school for Nursery to Grade 8 children, aged 3 to 14 years old.
In the Nursery, children must be 3 by December 31st when they join us in the September. We will grow to Grade 8, so 13 to 14 years of age. Currently we have nursery, pre-K (Reception), Kindergarten (Year 1) and Grade 1 (Year 2). We will grow organically over the years, adding a year group at a time, which will emulate the successful growth of Wetherby Prep in London from 2004. In September 2019, our Key Stage 2 provision will begin with the opening of Grade 2 (Year 3).
We are a British school and we follow the English National Curriculum. The Nursery and Pre-K years follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, so it matches exactly what you would expect in a school in the British Independent system back in the UK. The syllabus is competitive and transferable should families be moving between New York and the UK. What we are offering is something very different; it’s very appealing to local New York international families. We are about a year ahead of what other children would be covering in other American preschools here, particularly in their understanding and application of letters, phonics and numbers.
We make the curriculum relevant to their experience in New York and children in Key Stage 1, (Year 1 and Year 2) study social studies so they have an appreciation of American culture, history and traditions, language and geography. As they grow, they then specialise in world geography and history. We are covering science that much earlier in terms of biology, chemistry and physics from Grade 2 compared to other US elementary schools at this age, so our families are particularly impressed when they come to us from kindergarten at what we expect from the children. Traditionally the children are coming from pre-schools with no real knowledge of number and letters but are making rapid progress in a very short space of time. We are offering something unique and very proud to do that which is the secret of our success here.
As I walk around the building it is clear to see how incredibly happy the children are. The opportunities and diverse education you are offering to families is phenomenal. How easy will the transition be for the children when they leave this school and move to an American school/system?
We actually carried out a lot of research before we opened the school last year. We partnered with a couple of education consultancies here in New York who work closely with the top American Independent Day and Boarding High Schools. If you look at our website now, our curriculum overview refers to American testing, so very much like in the UK, when the children reach Grade 5 and Grade 6 they have an interview with me as Head of School. Families then decide how they want to plan the best route for their children to sit for one of the top US High Schools either here in New York or beyond. We have already met all of the Top 10 Consortium US High Schools and Boarding School heads.
You may find you have children that want to go back to the UK to do 11+ or 13+, which is fine and we can prepare them for that. Equally so, following our curriculum for the US system, this works well as long as we put them on the right testing track, whether that’s the ISEE’s or SSAT’s.
How many children do you currently have here, and how far do you see yourselves growing?
Well, we’re a school of 45 at the moment but over the next couple of years, this will rise to over 100. We’ve always said we don’t want to open all of the year groups simultaneously. We want to provide quality, and ensure children are getting bespoke care and the level of education which they deserve.
This way, we build a strong school community wholly reflective of our school values. Lots of parents ask me if we are selective in the process of admissions, and the answer to that is yes, absolutely. In terms of testing for the children coming in, obviously they are very young, but we do have child play sessions for nursery to kindergarten applicants.
For the nursery, that’s more of a half an hour session with the family there, to see how the child interacts with the other children. As they get a bit older from pre-K to kindergarten, it becomes a little more selective, and they are tested in English, maths and verbal reasoning for entry to Grade 1 and 2 and above, followed by an interview and team exercise, very much like the 7+ in the UK in that respect.
We look closely how the child interacts with the other children and their sense of teamwork: can they bounce back if they don’t get something straight away, are they persistent, do they have a love of learning, and do they engage in great conversation. Ultimately, it’s meant to be an enjoyable process. The feedback we have been getting has been superb.
Do you have any parents with older children who are currently in the American system but would love them to attend this school?
We currently have 3 families in the school, each with 3 children whereby we have taken the two youngest, but the eldest is just too old for us, so they have attended Convent of the Sacred Heart or St David’s, which are close by independent girls’ and boys’ schools on 5th Avenue. This way, the family can be relatively close together and we can continue to build local community relationships.
And how was this perceived?
It works for all concerned and touches on my own philosophy of building those meaningful relationships in the local school community. We’re not a standalone school and we’re not in London, so it is absolutely key we reach out and build those meaningful contacts with schools here.
We are right in the heart of Independent School central here, every single school is unique, and stands for something different, therefore we should all be coming together and helping our families that come in.
What we are finding that is interesting is families that do have the children going to the local American schools, is that with the syllabus, there is a big gap, particularly if they have relocated from the UK or Europe and they have been in an International British school somewhere else. They are benefiting in a number of ways, but certainly in terms of the school syllabus, the children are much further ahead when they enter the American system.
We are relatively new here in New York, but actually we’ve been doing this a long time, and part of a gold standard group that absolutely respects quality of education, and I think for our American families out here, they have been very impressed with our governance, educational expertise and strong supportive structure.
Our culture, success and heritage are something to be immensely proud of.
Three times a year our Director of Schools, Colleges and Nurseries flies out to meet parents, children and staff and to promote and develop our high standards. It’s that support network and scrutiny of the quality of education we provide that drives our standards forward.
I think just being part of that Group, parents feel that they are a member of an international establishment, that has been around much longer than we have been here, and I think that’s very reassuring and inspiring for all families.
Well, thank you very much for having me, Kate. It’s been really interesting!