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Spence School
Spence School
	Entrance to the Upper School (2019)
Address
	56 East 93rd Street (Lower School); 22 East 91st Street (Middle/Upper School); New York City (Manhattan), New York 10128; United States
Coordinates	40°47′03″N 73°57′25″W / 40.784146°N 73.956958°W
Information
Type	Private, Day, College-prep
Motto	Latin: Non scholae sed vitae discimus; (Not for school, but for life we learn)
Established	1892
Founder	Clara B. Spence
Head of School	Ellanor "Bodie" Brizendine
Faculty	210 (2014–15)
Grades	K–12
Gender	Girls
Enrollment	736 (2014–15)
Student to teacher ratio	7:1
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Blue, Gold and White
Athletics conference	AAIS (most sports); NYSAISAA
Nickname	Sabers
Accreditation	NYSAIS
Tuition	$60,880 (2022-2023)
Affiliations	New York Interschool
Website	www.spenceschool.org

The Spence School is an American all-girls private school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence.^[2]

Spence has about 740 students, with grades 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 average class sizes are 13–14. The student: teacher ratio is 7:1 and students of color in all grades make up approximately 33 percent of the student body.^[3]

For the 2017–18 academic year, tuition and fees total $49,980 for all grades.^[4] 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 "America's Best Prep Schools" list in 2010.^[5]

History

The Spence School was founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence, who was its head for 31 years. The school's motto 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.^[6] The school once had a boarding option, but all current girls are day students.

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."

Spence read from Shakespeare in dramatic declamation every week. She was known for her conservative comportment and strictness, but also her devotion to women's rights. She arranged for Edith Wharton, Helen Keller, and George Washington Carver to speak at the school. Isadora Duncan taught dance classes.^[7]

In a commencement address from an unknown year, Spence said that cultivating imagination was an important skill, since “sympathy, that great bond between human beings, is largely dependent on imagination—that is, upon the power of realizing the feelings and the circumstances of others so as to enable us to feel with and for them.”^[7]

The school has been located on East 91st Street since 1929.^[8]

Academics

Spence offers a liberal arts and science curriculum, including programs in the arts and foreign languages. 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.^[9]

Notable alumnae

Serena Altschul, broadcast journalist
Madeleine Astor, Titanic survivor
Maiken Baird, film producer
Frances Baldwin, artist^[10]
Edith Bouvier Beale, socialite
Georgina Bloomberg, equestrienne, daughter of Michael Bloomberg
Doris Caesar, sculptor
Eleanor A. Campbell, physician and founder of Judson Health Center
Huguette M. Clark, artist and philanthropist^[11]
Melissa Doi, businesswoman and victim of 9/11 terrorist attacks
Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, philanthropist and anti-communist
Elisabeth C. Draper, interior decorator
Ruth Wales du Pont, socialite, philanthropist, and composer
Dawn French, comedian^[12]^[13]
Helen Clay Frick, philanthropist and art collector
Caroline Gorman, singer
Francine du Plessix Gray, author and literary critic
Patricia Wright Gwyn, politician and librarian
Angelia Lawrance Morrison Harris, First Lady of North Carolina
Janet Hobhouse, novelist and biographer
Nancy Hopkins, molecular biologist
Jade Jagger, jewelry designer
Bonnie Jenkins, public servant^[14]
Jill Kargman, actress, writer
Jane Kim, politician
Margaret Carnegie Miller, philanthropist
Alley Mills, actress
Elizabeth Montgomery, actress^[15]
Sara Wiborg Murphy, socialite
Dorothy Klenke Nash, neurosurgeon
Gwyneth Paltrow, actress
Mary Ellis Peltz, music critic and poet
Karen Polle, equestrian
Marjorie Merriweather Post, philanthropist
Sally Pressman, actress
Louise Goff Reece, politician
Evette Rios, lifestyle expert
Emmanuelle Grey "Emmy" Rossum, actress
Natalie Mai Vitetti, socialite
Kerry Washington, actress
Electra Havemeyer Webb, arts patron
Caroline Beaumont Zachry, psychologist

Affiliated organizations

References

^ Spence School | At a Glance
^ Survivor: The Manhattan Kindergarten by Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal Spring 2001
^ The Spence School | FAQ
^ "Tuition & Financial Aid at the Spence School in Manhattan".
^ Laneri, Raquel (April 10, 2010). "A profile of one of America's 20 best prep schools". Forbes.
^ The Spence School | History
^ ^a ^b Gordon, Meryl (2014). The Phantom of Fifth Avenue. The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark. Grand Central. ISBN 9781455512645.
^ Timeline, Spence School, retrieved October 5, 2010, At this location, 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. In 2008, the Lower School (Kindergarten through Grade 4) was moved to a beautifully restored landmark five-story building at 56 East 93rd Street.
^ CollegePrepUSA (from Worth magazine) Archived December 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Frances Baldwin". SFGate. Hearst Communications. August 10, 1999. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
^ Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Loss of one of the World's Greatest Fortunes, London: Atlantic Books, 2013, pp. 105-108
^ "Dawn French bio". Retrieved June 2, 2007.
^ Ciaran Brown (April 2008). "Ciaran Brown Meets the Stars(Dawn French)". Retrieved October 26, 2010.
^ Bonnie Jenkins U.S. State Department bio (though no mention of Spence)
^ "Elizabeth Montgomery Bio". Biography Channel(UK). Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2010.