Avenues The World School

Sponsored Content | August 3, 2023

The New York campus of Avenues The World School is an independent school located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, adjacent to the High Line park, serving toddler–12th grade. Since opening in 2012, Avenues New York has grown its student body from 740 students to more than 1,900 in 2023. Students from their first seven graduating classes are studying at many of the finest educational institutions in the world and are well on their way to becoming, in the words of their mission statement, “architects of lives that transcend the ordinary.”

A key attribute of the Avenues community is inclusivity. They look for promising students who can thrive in a rigorous and collaborative learning environment. They strive to be broadly representative of the wider community, and nearly half of their student body identifies as students of color with students now hailing from 178+ zip codes. A significant financial aid budget supports much of their student body and aims to meet 100% of the demonstrated need of each admitted family.

“In our mission statement, we promise to graduate students who are at “ease beyond their borders”; that is, students who have the cultural competencies necessary to engage with and serve in communities other than their own. Whether those borders are defined by race, culture, physical ability, socio-economic background or other measures of identity, Avenues equips our students to connect across differences and embrace access for all—both in and out of the classroom.”
— Kym Ward Gaffney, Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Avenues parent (Classes of 2026 and 2028)

Avenues New York comprises the Early Learning Center (their Small World program for one- and two-year-olds, nursery, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten), the Lower Division (grades 1–5), and the Upper Division (split into the middle grades program from grades 6–8 and the upper grades program from grades 9–12). Avenues’ innovative curriculum is shaped by expert faculty with support from an in-house research and development team. Curricular highlights include language immersion in Chinese or Spanish, project-based learning, interdisciplinary study and the Mastery Program.

In Avenues’ language immersion program, which runs from nursery–5th grade, students spend 50% of their time learning in English and 50% learning in either Chinese or Spanish. In the Small World program for 1- and 2-year-olds, children are exposed to all three languages, in preparation for formal immersion in nursery. They also offer a language intensive program for students entering grades 3–5. From 6th grade, students transition to intensive study of their chosen second language, with opportunities to put their skills into practice on life-changing study abroad programs.

Avenues pledges to graduate students who are confident because they excel in a particular passion, and the Mastery Program provides students in grades 9–12 with the space, resources and mentorship to identify and then pursue that passion in depth. Mastery projects have ranged from engineering (e.g. the design and construction of small scale drones) to the arts (e.g. a self-published book of fashion photography) to law (e.g. the creation of the first high school law review in the United States) to science (e.g. using AI for the early detection of cancer) and everything in between.

As one school with many campuses, Avenues is a highly integrated global learning community, connected and supported by a common vision, a shared curriculum, the same admissions standards, collective professional development of its faculty and best-in-class facilities. In 2018, Avenues São Paulo opened, followed by Avenues Shenzhen just one year later. Five years ago, their commitment to innovation led them to begin developing the virtual campus of Avenues Online, which is setting a new standard for online education. Their Silicon Valley campus opened last fall with their Founding Class Program and is now serving grades 4–10. They are currently accepting applications for age 1–grade 11 for fall 2024. Future Avenues campuses include Miami and additional global locations.

Learn more about Avenues The World School at www.avenues.org and please feel free to reach out to their admissions team with any questions at admissions-ny@avenues.org.