The Kew-Forest School

We are an independent, coed, college preparatory school for students in Grades Pre-K-12, established in 1918 to serve the Kew Gardens/Forest Hills community of Queens. We draw students from 40 different towns and areas including Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Douglaston, Bayside, Jamaica Estates, Nassau County, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Our student body boasts ethnic roots in 65 different countries, spanning the globe.

At The Kew-Forest School, our mission is to do more than just educate—it is to deeply inspire. Through challenging, thought-provoking curriculum taught in a vibrant multi-cultural community, we have created a truly unique learning environment. Students are encouraged to ask questions, to challenge the norm, and to try new things every day, so learning is perpetually exciting and rewarding.

Our dedication to our mission, goals and values demands that we maintain a high set of standards for ourselves, and our students. Teachers at The Kew-Forest School aren’t just expected to educate—they are empowered and challenged to invent new ways to excite and motivate students, both inside and outside their classrooms.

Students are expected to enter our school with the enthusiasm and resolve to take advantage off everything we have to offer. Parents are strongly encouraged to be involved in the education of their children, and are expected to be active members of our school community. Through the allignment of the school and the home, we are able to truly develop each child’s potential to its fullest.

The Kew-Forest School is an intimate early childhood through 12th grade learning community that is small by design, inclusive, and globally representative. Kew-Forest provides a safe, nurturing, and intellectually vigorous environment that inspires every student to explore and expand creative interests, to apply courageous and innovative thinking, and to become an ethical contributor to ever-widening communities. Kew-Forest students develop the skills necessary for pursuing higher education and for acquiring the essential competencies of a responsible citizen. The Kew-Forest School’s students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni form a strong and caring community with a shared commitment to:

• Encouraging each student to achieve excellence in academic pursuits and fulfillment of individual potential;
• Fostering an environment that celebrates personal integrity, diversity, and respect;
• Providing teachers, tools, and a learning atmosphere that spark the joy of discovery in academics, the arts, athletics, and community service, within the context of a rigorous, liberal arts curriculum;
• Investing in and utilizing the latest technology in ways that for students enhance learning and preparation for college, and for the school in general, provide greater efficiency and savings;
• Encouraging intelligent, responsible citizenship and leadership through meaningful service to the life of the school and to the broader community;
• Attracting and retaining outstanding teachers who inspire a passion for learning, demonstrate excellence in their subject areas, and serve as exemplary role models for students;
• Honoring The Kew-Forest School’s history and traditions in order to ensure a lifelong connection to the school community and to the school’s Mission, Guiding Principles, and goals.

Kew-Forest’s size allows for warm, deep interpersonal connections. Our co-curricular programs support a ‘whole child’ approach, which values social-emotional and academic growth equally. Arts, athletics, service, and experiential learning reinforce traditional class work. Kew-Forest teachers create vigorous learning environments that inspire their students to find, explore, and expand their interests. They know their students well and provide individualized attention so students can realize their full personal and academic potential.

At the earliest stages, Kew-Forest students learn to work collaboratively and on their own. Teachers guide students through experiences that speak to a child’s innate curiosity about themselves and the world around them. Lower School classrooms employ the Responsive Classroom approach, which focuses on developing the classroom community to promote academic growth.

The Kew-Forest Middle School and Upper School (grades 6 - 12) program embraces the developmental leap between early childhood and adolescence. Students gain exposure to a wider variety of academic disciplines and have more choices for personalizing their program through coursework and extracurricular activities. A community service requirement exposes Kew-Forest young people to meeting needs beyond their own. Through the Advisory Program, students learn self-advocacy and how to successfully approach challenges.

A Kew-Forest graduate leaves our community with a sturdy academic foundation, the ability to comfortably converse with adults, time management skills, and experience with exercising autonomy and accountability in the journey of personal and academic growth.