A New Upper School On 64th Street! 

Browning is one of only two boys' schools in New York City that serves the entire arc of childhood from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Acquiring the space needed to make our Middle and Upper School grades larger increases our academic and cocurricular offerings and allows more boys to experience an education that meets their needs until adulthood. 

It will become a dedicated K-8 space, increasing those boys' access to educational and community spaces and creating more leadership opportunities for younger boys. Starting in the 2025-2025 school year, our Middle School will be Grades 6-8, and Lower School will be Kindergarten-Grade 5.

The new building features 13 classrooms, including three flex classrooms that can be combined into one larger space; six STEAM labs/studios; a community commons; a new fitness center, and a regulation-sized gym that will allow Browning to host home games.

We will grow to 500 students by 2028 by increasing our number of Grade 6 students each year. Centering our growth at the start of Middle School allows us to increase the size of the student body in a way that is intentional and not disruptive to the school's culture. 

Our target is a maximum of 40 students. The current Grade 9 is 37 students. 

Browning has an excellent teacher retention rate, and intends to maintain its 6:1 student-teacher ratio. When new faculty start at Browning, they participate in a year-long professional learning group, “Teaching and Learning with Boys,” to ensure they can employ Browning’s research-based relational teaching model successfully. We will be hiring roughly 10 new teachers this year, to be dispersed between the two buildings. 

Our goal is to maintain as many connections between all grades as possible and create more if we can. We will continue with our Panther Games (all-school field day) and older boys may assist with traditions such as handshaking at the Red Doors on Friday mornings. Additionally, there will be opportunities for younger boys to come to the 64th Street building for basketball games, performances, and other community activities. 

Our desire is for all students at Browning to be able to visit the new building for activities. As we live into the building, we will seek to create programming that supports the strength of the community that we have intentionally created, and makes use of our brand-new facilities. 

There will still be opportunities for faculty to have full faculty meetings as well as for academic disciplines to collaborate routinely, both within the discipline and with other disciplines. Our year-long professional learning groups will continue and there will be social opportunities for teachers to interact as well. 

While we don't discuss specific security measures for obvious reasons, the building will be outfitted with cameras, sprinkler and intercom systems, and all of the standard safety and security features required for a school in New York. In addition, the building will have its own full-time security officer and nurse. 

Families will use the building for Parents Association meetings, coffees, and other gatherings. As a non-profit, we are limited in how we can make our space available for rental, but other school-adjacent organizations might be able to utilize the building during the summer or at other times when school is not in session. 

We are actively planning for the fall now, and several committees were created so that  Upper School boys can share their vision for how they want the new space to feel.