King's Ransom
Wiliam and Harry’s school opens in NY with $45K tuition
Formally shaking hands with his immaculately-dressed principal, little Leo looks adorable in his gray, English-style felt blazer and tailored shorts. The 4-year-old could be mistaken for the UK’s Prince George, who was photographed in a similar get-up on his first day of school earlier this month.
But pre-kindergartener Leo, who lives near Lincoln Center, is a student at Manhattan’ s new WetherbyP em bridge School—a picturesque institution located within a Beaux Arts mansion on East 96th Street (formerly the home of the Manhattan Country Day School).
The price of tuition? A whopping $45,500 a year.
So why in the world would someone pay that much money for what is, essentially, a nursery school and kindergarten? Chalk it up to a few quintessentially English schoolboys: Princes William and Harry — and Harry Potter.
The state-of-the-art facility — which follows a British curriculum and is, as a consequence, one year ahead of American classrooms — has an enviable royal pedigree. Its original London outpost in swanky Notting Hill is the alma mater of both William and Harry.
Head of school Kate Bailey considers it bad form to comment on the connection of Wetherby-Pem- bridge to one of Europe’s most blueblooded families. Yet, it’s clearly a draw for some New York parents.
Hell’s Kitchen event organizer Henriette Foster is thrilled that the distinctive insignia on her 6-yearold daughter Caitlin’s uniform is the same one that the princes wore in the late ’80s and early ’90s. “I recognized it from iconic photographs I’ve seen of the boys with their mother, Princess Diana,” she said.
Meanwhile, Leo’s stay-at-home mom, Julia Fominova, the wife of a tech industry CEO, is a bit of a royal fangirl herself.
“I like Prince William and Prince Harry very much and am a big fan of the TV series ‘The Crown’ [about Queen Elizabeth II],” she said.
There’s also the annual Sports Day in Central Park, where parents and children will take part in races and obstacle courses — just like Princess Diana used to do (and win).
And then there’s the Harry Potter factor: “We don’t have a Sorting Hat, but we do have houses, namely Braeburn, McIntosh and Russet,” said Bailey. The staff gives out house points for good behavior, academic achievement and kindness toward others. Fashioned to look like apples, the points are awarded in front of the entire school every Friday.
In its inaugural year, WetherbyP em bridge teaches 3- year-old sin the nursery, pre-K for 4-year-olds and kindergarten for 5- and 6-yearolds. The latter — and the yet-to-beintroduced higher grades — separates boys and girls for core subjects such as math and literacy. The school plans to add a grade each year, with a goal of establishing an eighth grade for 14year-olds in eight years’ time.
According to Bailey, while it seems old-fashioned, single-sex teaching is the best way for children to learn. “It is a way of dispelling any gender stereotypes attached to subjects,” she said. “For instance, traditionally, a girl in a coed environment might go toward literacy, languages and the more creative arts, while a boy might go toward science, technology and mathematics.”
Still, not everyone is dazzled by the appearance of Wetherby-Pembridge on the city’s notoriously competitive private-education scene.
Upper West Sider Wednesday Martin, the author of “Primates of Prime Avenue,” about Manhattan’s richest inhabitants, remains skeptical of its projected success.
“The benefit of having another option will be weighed against the risk of a place that has an unproven track record placing kids” in private upper-grade schools, she said.
As for the allure of Wetherby-Pembridge’s highbrow connections, Martin is equally nonplussed.
“New Yorkers have our own royalty — real-estate wealth, hedge-fund wealth and those with established philanthropy cultural capital are our monarchy. We are pretty much indifferent to British credential.”