SurreyMum

Does anyone have any experience (first hand, 2nd hand) of schools in Manhattan or NY State/NJ commutable to Manhattan areas that offer the IB qualification.

At his recent review hubby had the "what are we going to do with you next" conversation with his US boss (hubby currently working in London) and the possibility of moving to US came up again but this time location would be NYC. Still only a possibility at some point in the future (i.e may never happen) but I am trying to be as prepared as possible for if it does! Hence my question about any experience of schools (private) offering the IB qualification rather than the AP system so that our daughters would in theory have more options re further education in UK if we did move.

Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.

Englishmum

The only one I'm aware of is Newark Academy on the border of Short Hills and Livingston, NJ (close to the Livingston Mall).

I wasn't aware of the school or that they offered the IB when we moved to SH (we had the services of a relocation advisor provided by my spouse's employer, but the woman was as useful as a chocolate teapot..she only seemed to know about Manhatten).

OTOH I don't think that the school would have been a good fit for our daughter (she had just done her IGCSE's at an International school in Singapore, where they have the PYP and the IB Diploma for the 16-18 year old pupils) and she chose to go to boarding school in Oxford and take 'A' levels instead. How old are your daughters?

Be aware that non-religious private schools in the New York metro area are incredibly expensive, more so than for many comparable schools in the UK. There are many extras to pay for on top of the tuition fees. We chose to live in Short Hills as the school district (Millburn township) has one of the best public school systems in the US. Other good school districts (albeit going further away from NYC) are Chatham, Madison, Summit, Mountain Lakes. My son went to Millburn Middle School from Grade 6 and then the High School.

My spouse worked in Times Square and his commute was just under an hour door to door from Short Hills train station.

There is (apparently) a British school in lower Manhatten but I have no idea how 'British' it is in ethos or if it is a primary school only....a few years ago our Scottish friends sent their children to the British School of Boston (they're now back in Scotland) and they said that most of the pupils were American.

They remarked that they noticed that the little ones were pulled out as soon as they reached the age to go to into the American schools, but were sent to the British school to give them an 'edge' as of course American children start school at a later age than British children...

Oh my goodness.....I've just looked at the FAQ's for Newark Academy; the tuition fees per child for the 2014-14 academic year are a whopping $34,760 (this a day school, not a boarding school!). It also says '..additional costs which include, but are not limited to, books, annual lunch fee and technology expenses, range from $1500 to $2000. Door to door transportation is available to over 70 towns from the Jordan Bus Company. Transportation costs range from $2500 - $3000" Note that this doesn't also include school trips and 'voluntary' donations...

http://www.newarka.edu/faq

Btw; my husband's company (like most major companies) do not provide fees for private schools in the US as it is an English speaking country and there are no limitations on 'foreigners' attending the public school system, unlike in some other countries, ie. they leave it up to the employee to choose to live in a good public school district, where they must find a place for your child. The only exception is for employees on expat assignments in the US who are not from an English-speaking country; my spouse had a French guy working for him for 3 years who transferred with his family from Paris. The company paid the fees at the French Lycee in NYC for his children.

SurreyMum

Thanks Englishmum for your answer it is very useful.

US school fees are very high I have noticed that, makes me realise what good education my daughters are getting for our money here in UK!!

Our girls are 9 (Year 5) and 12 (Year 8) at the moment but we aren't anticipating a move for at least 12 months if not longer and I worry that for my eldest any move would coincide with GCSEs or A Levels hence the interest in IB. Unfortunately at the moment there is no way she would consider boarding.

Guess I need to either accept stupidly high school fees (and ensure hubby negotiates a suitably high package if the move happens) or re-think moving them to the US system. Fingers crossed we stay in UK!

Springy6

You can search for IB schools on their website and then use greatschools to try to narrow it down to ones you want to visit.