As one of the founding families at Avenues: The World School, we took a leap of faith and trusted that this establishment would be the best choice for our family. After a full year with Avenues, I can say with confidence that it was everything we had hoped for – and then some! We’re so excited to have such an amazing private school downtown. It has been a blessing my daughter’s growth and development while attending the school and I cannot wait to see what is in store for her this year!
As the new admission season begins, I’d like to introduce you to the incredible Avenues community. The happiness and positive energy is truly contagious and I am enthusiastic to endorse this school to all New York parents and beyond. This fall, Avenues will have weekly grade- and division-specific Parent Information Events. I sincerely recommend these events to anyone that is curious about the school.
The following are dates for the Parent Information Event where division heads and select faculty will discuss curriculum, share examples of their classes and answer questions:
What is a Global or World School?
Think of Avenues as one international school with 20 or more campuses. It will not be a collection of 20 different schools all pursuing different educational strategies, but rather one highly-integrated “learning community,” connected and supported by a common vision, a shared curriculum, collective professional development of its faculty, the wonders of modern technology and a highly-talented headquarters team located here in New York City.
The Building
The architecture firm Perkins Eastman and the interior design firm Bonetti/Kozerski Studio have together created an innovative design for Avenues’ flagship New York City campus. The structure exemplifies a “best practice” approach to contemporary school design. Derived from a number of innovations in other areas, the design combines the best from the fields of technology, ergonomics and environmental design with the experience of top educators and school administrators from around the world. To create this first campus, Avenues assembled a team of unmatched experience and unequaled passion for understanding the challenges and opportunities in delivering a 21st century education.
Avenues’ creative and environmentally sensitive reuse of an existing building demonstrates what is possible now while also exhibiting a vision for the future of education. It capitalizes on the nature of learning and the psychology behind education. Space is imagined as a canvas for the support of individual and group activities and is designed to function and inspire beyond preconceived norms. Avenues will take students who want to achieve beyond their own perceived limitations to the next level.
The building design turns a traditional orthogonal structure into an open and expressive loft-like environment for learning. The school takes its clues from the strong structural grid of the building and large light-filled bays. The exterior characteristics of the building, which include large window bays that extend to the exposed ceiling and offer shadow-free natural light deep into the floor plate of the school, have been maintained as much as possible.
Why should parents consider choosing Avenues for their children? Avenues’ key attributes (beyond the core academic quality that every fine school seeks to provide its students) are summarized below.
Educational Outcomes
1. A GLOBAL VIEW
In the 21st century, students who have a highly developed sense of the broader world will have a distinct advantage over those who do not. Avenues takes very seriously its mission to prepare students for today’s global focus. Avenues’ World Course, which includes geography, history, religion, demographics and economic development, will be a centerpiece of the curriculum. And Avenues’ planned campuses in the world’s great cities will make its students members of a unique global learning community.
2. TRUE FLUENCY
Even at top schools, many language courses would better be described as “language appreciation” classes, as true fluency is neither their objective nor their result. Avenues is committed to ensuring its graduates are highly proficient in a second language and, for those who choose to do so, a third as well.
3. STUDY ABROAD
As many parents who have guided a student through middle and upper school will testify, finding and coordinating summer programs abroad for their children is no small task. Further, most of what is offered by providers is difficult to coordinate with the curriculum of the home school. Avenues is committed to designing study abroad programs that are highly integrated with its core curriculum and completely supervised by its staff, initially in programs it creates and runs and ultimately at Avenues’ own campuses abroad.
4. AN INDEPENDENT LEARNER
Avenues students at the middle and upper school levels will do an amount of independent work that is uncommon in most schools. A key to excellence in college and beyond is the ability to work independently in a highly focused way.
5. AN AREA OF EXCELLENCE
There are three reasons Avenues works with every older student to develop an area in which he or she excels. First, mastery in any arena creates great confidence and self-esteem in students. Second, the lessons one learns mastering one area are transferable to mastery in another. And, third, colleges are looking for students who bring both well-rounded strengths and something special to their student bodies.
6. ARTS IN AVENUES’ BACKYARD
Where a school is located matters, and Avenues is situated in one of the most vibrant art neighborhoods in the city and the world. That advantage, coupled with a belief in the educational importance of the arts, makes Avenues a strong destination for artistically-oriented families and students.
7. COMPETITIVE ATHLETICS
Most schools in the city face difficult commutes to even basic athletic facilities or fields. Just three blocks from Avenues’ campus, Chelsea Piers provides more than one million square feet of athletic facilities with hundreds of capable staff. This feature is particularly important to students for whom competitive athletics is important.
There are many reasons to love Avenues: The World School, but the reason that it will always hold a special place in my heart is knowing that my children are receiving the best education and preparation for their future. As a busy mother, it is a blessing to know that when my kids are not at my side, they are still developing the skills they will need to excel across the globe – no matter where life may lead them.
