Alexander Robertson School

It has been a long time since my children were at Alexander Robertson School, back in the early 1990s. We were happy there. Classes included reading and writing, music, art, physical education, library time, and much more. Many children, not just my own, spoke of feeling comfortable in the building, and I remember one little boy who didn't want to go home at the end of the school day, he liked being there so much! Discipline was reasonable, kind and firm.

ARS has a very long and interesting history dating back to the year of George Washington's Inauguration, when the United States was a new nation. Alexander Robertson founded the school so that all children could receive schooling, even those whose families could not afford tutors. I appreciated the history of this school, as well as its tuition... very reasonable by NYC standards, even though (with three children) it was a huge stretch for us. We moved out of the City, but my children have fond memories of their time at ARS. I am grateful to everyone who upholds this school's traditions, values, and high standards.

We completely love this school. We have had our oldest child at Alexander Robertson School since kindergarten (2009) (going to 4th grade next year), and our youngest son is enroll in kindergarten for next year (2013/2014). There's a true sense of community in this school. Parents are very involved in school activity. With only one class per grade (from K through 5th) and with a small class size (no more than 13 children per class), we have truly felt a connection to the entire school community (parents, faculty, staff). The teachers have been amazing throughout our experience and we have had the opportunity to know the teachers from higher grades throughout these years and continue to be very well impressed. The attention that each teacher can devote to each child is immense and we can see that the teachers are always aware of the child’ s ability, challenges and strengths, and are able to bring out the best of each child.
The school has strong academic curriculum and it has adopted the Singapore math method (in 2011/2012 academic year) which truly makes a big difference on how our oldest child has come to learn about math and geometry and to incorporate that learning into everyday life. There are plenty of enrichment activities in addition to standard academic program (two days of gym per week, music, arts, french and ethics). It’s common for children to interact with the other grades throughout the day during recess or lunchtime and there are even academic activities that bring several classes together ((like a reading buddy system from 2nd/3rd graders to kindergarten/1st graders). Every Friday there’s a school-wide assembly where children are encouraged to share with the other classes their newly acquired knowledge and parents are always welcome to attend. Throughout the year there a number of occasions where parents are invited to participate in school activities (for example, a Halloween parade, a French Festival where children dress up in the context of French culture, and this year there was a Talent Show fundraising event where most children went up on stage to show their amazing talent in dance, musical instrument playing, singing, magic, stand-up comedy. Staff has always been very helpful and extremely caring. We wish all children could have a school like ARS.