The Spence School is an all-girls independent school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence. Spence is regarded as one of the top private schools in New York City.^[1] For other uses, see Motto (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... Educational institutions are often categorised along several dimensions. ... For the film of this title, see Private School (film). ... Single-sex education is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Overview

Spence has about 650 students, with K-4 representing the Lower School, 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 fourteen grades make up approximately 27 percent of the student body ^[2]. The School is popular with elite families in New York City. ^[3] Primary or elementary education is the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. ... Middle school (also known as intermediate school or junior high school) covers a period of education that straddles primary/elementary education and secondary education, serving as a bridge between the two. ... For other uses, see High school (disambiguation). ...

History^[4]

The Spence School was founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence. The school was once boarding, and it's motto is "non scholae sed vitae discimus" (Latin for "Not for school, but for life we learn"). The first School building was located on New York City's West 48th Street. Founder Clara created the Spence School as pioneering venture in education that she led for thirty-one years. For other uses, see Motto (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ...

Clara B. Spence would describe 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

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 12th grade. In addition, history courses include Asian, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern history. 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 or Spanish and in the 7th grade both Latin and Mandarin Chinese become electives as the students continue their study of French or Spanish. A specialized computer/robotics course also becomes an elective in the 7th grade. This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ...

College Placement

The five most frequently attended colleges and universities for Spence graduates from 2002-2006 were: Cornell University (14), Harvard University (12), New York University (11), Princeton University (11) and Columbia University (10). Cornell redirects here. ... Harvard redirects here. ... New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in New York City. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ... Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ...

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. ^[5] Worth is a personal finance and luxury lifestyle magazine in the United States. ...

Physical facilities

The school is located in two buildings 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 on East 91st Street, next to the Cooper Hewitt Museum. The Lower School (K-4) is housed in a renovated landmark building on East 93rd Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue. On April 28, 2008, the Spence School announced the acquistion of additional space through the purchase of a townhouse at 17 East 90th Street, directly behind the Upper and Middle Schools. This purchase will allow for additional space to deepen and enrich the educational program of the school. The new townhouse will be connected to the 91st Street building, and is expected to be construction in about one year. The Upper East Side at Sunset The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA, between Central Park and the East River. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ...

Notable alumnae

• Serena Altschul, MTV host
• Ellen Sparry Brush, pioneer anthropologist, first woman to become a member of the Explorers Club in NYC
• Helen Clay Frick, daughter of Henry Clay Frick
• Francine du Plessix Gray, author
• Nancy Hopkins, Amgen Professor of Biology at M.I.T.'s Center for Cancer Research
• Jade Jagger, daughter of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and then-wife Bianca Jagger
• Aerin Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder company.
• Rita White Matthews, scientist and explorer
• Alley Mills, actress (The Wonder Years)
• Elizabeth Montgomery, stage and screen actress (Bewitched)
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar-winning actress
• Marjorie Lake Post, philanthropist
• Emmy Rossum, actress (The Phantom of the Opera)
• Kerry Washington, actress

Serena Altschul (born October 7, 1970 in New York, New York) is an American broadcast journalist, well known for her work at MTV News. ... This article is about the original U.S. music television channel. ... The Explorers Club is international organzation formed by the survivors of Frederick Cooks 1894 Arctic expedition. ... Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist and art patron. ... Francine du Plessix Gray is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and literary critic. ... Nancy Hopkins (1909-1977) in 1930 in Ford National Air Tour Nancy Hopkins (May 16, 1909 – January 15, 1997) was an aviatrix. ... MIT redirects here. ... Jade Sheena Jezebel Jagger (born October 21, 1971 in Paris, France) is a British jewelry designer and lifestyle entrepreneur. ... This article is about the magazine. ... Sir Michael Phillip Mick Jagger (born July 26, 1943) is a English rock musician, actor, songwriter, record and film producer and businessman. ... Bianca Jagger at the Dropping Knowledge projects Table of Free Voices in Berlin, September 2006 Bianca Jagger (born Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías [1] on May 2, 1950 [2], in Managua, Nicaragua) is a social and human rights advocate, as well as a former model and actress. ... Estée Lauder Companies Inc. ... Estée Lauder Companies Inc. ... Alley Mills (born May 9, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series The Wonder Years. ... The Wonder Years is an Emmy Award-winning US American television dramedy created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. ... Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. ... Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (born September 27, 1972)[1] is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American actress. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Emmanuelle Grey Emmy Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actress and a singer-songwriter. ... Kerry Washington (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress. ...

Affiliated organizations

• National Association of Girls' Schools
• New York Association of Independent Schools
• National Coalition of Girls' Schools
• New York Interschool

Spence in film and television

The Spence School resides on a side street a half block from 5th Avenue and Central Park alongside several old and gracious buildings including the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (originally the Andrew Carnegie mansion), the Sacred Heart School, and the Consulate General of Russia in New York. The street has been used as a backdrop in several movies and television shows including Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres, 3. ... The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is the only museum in the United States dedicated to contemporary design and design history. ... Convent of the Sacred Heart is the oldest independent, all-girls school in Manhattan. ...

• The Anderson Tapes (1971, starring Sean Connery) - the architectural star is Sacred Heart, but you can catch a glimpse of Spence across the street. Incidentally, this movie was directed by Sidney Lumet who later sent his eldest daughter (Amy Lumet) to Spence. She graduated from Spence in 1982.^{[citation needed]}
• Marathon Man (1974, starring Dustin Hoffman) - the opening car chase end in a ball of fire that was filmed directly in front of Spence.^{[citation needed]}
• Arthur (1981, starring Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore - The Cooper-Hewitt Museum played the role of Arthur's family mansion, and there is a good view of Spence in the background.^{[citation needed]}
• Working Girl (1988, starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford) - Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford crash a wedding filmed in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, but the view of Spence is fleeting at best.^{[citation needed]}
• Uptown Girls (2003, starring Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning) - the exterior serves as Dakota Fanning's character's school.^{[citation needed]}
• Gossip Girls (2008) - although the popular TV show does not name Spence, it is clear that many aspects of the show have been heavily influenced by Spence, inlcuding the green plaid jumpers which is the standard lower school Spence dress (other Spence dress includes navy blue and light blue skirts), and the location of the fictional girls school which is located on 5th Avenue near Spence. The show frequently films next to Spence and you will often see Spence students watching the actors shooting scenes.^{[citation needed]}

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, and BAFTA Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. ... Portrait of Sidney Lumet, May 7, 1939. ... Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, BAFTA-winning, and five-time Golden Globe-winning American method actor. ... Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. ... Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE (April 19, 1935 – March 27, 2002), was an Academy-Award nominated British comedian, actor and musician. ... Melanie Griffith (born August 9, 1957, in New York City) is an Academy Award-nominated American film actress. ... Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... For the silent film actor, see Harrison Ford (silent film actor). ... Brittany Murphy (born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977) is an American singer and actress. ... Dakota Fanning (born Hannah Dakota Fanning on February 23, 1994) is an American actress. ...

See also

• Education in New York City

Education in New York City is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. ...

External links

• Official Spence School Web site
• TIME magazine May 16, 1932 New Head for Spence
• TIME Feb. 3, 1936 Fifth for Spence
• TIME Feb. 17, 1936 Letters (a reply to the above article begins in the middle of the page)
• The New York Times December 9, 1997 "A Former Headmistress Is to Head Spence School"

References