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 / 40.784146; -73.956958
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[1]
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]

Overview

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

Affiliated organizations

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

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 Park, 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

• The Anderson Tapes (1971, starring Sean Connery): This movie was directed by Sidney Lumet who later sent his eldest daughter (Amy Lumet) to Spence. She graduated from Spence in 1982.
• Marathon Man (1974, starring Dustin Hoffman): the opening car chase ends in a ball of fire that was filmed directly in front of Spence.
• 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.
• 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 Spence is clearly visible.
• A Perfect Murder (1998, starring Michael Douglas and (Spence alumna) 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 Murphy and Dakota Fanning): 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.
• Riverdale (2017-): the main character Veronica Lodge recounts her past experiences at Spence throughout the show, though the school itself has not appeared.
• Hawkeye (2021): A Spence diploma is seen on Kate Bishop's bedroom wall in Episode 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe show.