Type Public School district 2 Grades K-5 Founder Katherine Blake | Established 1894 Principal Lauren Fontana Phone +1 212-737-9774 Founded 1894 | |
 | ||
Mascot Pale Male, the Redtailed Hawk Address 45 E 81st St, New York, NY 10028, USA District New York City Geographic District # 2, New York City Public Schools Profiles | ||
P.S. 6, The Lillie Devereaux Blake School, is a public elementary school located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1894, P.S. 6 is regarded as one of the top elementary schools in New York City.
Contents
Overview
P.S. 6 has about 800 students in grades K-5. Average class sizes are 23-28. The school's student body is 78% Caucasian, which is somewhat unusual for a public school in NYC. The school is popular with families on the Upper East Side who often choose to send their children there rather than to private school. The school's former Principal, Carmen Fariña, claimed that the acceptance rate for out of district students was 1/7, lower than that of many top-tier Universities.
History
P.S. 6 was founded in 1894 and named after the feminist author and reformer Lillie Devereaux Blake. The school was originally located several blocks to the north on 85th Street. The current red brick building on Madison Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets was constructed in 1953.
The school's first principal Katherine Blake, the daughter of the school's namesake, served in that capacity for 34 years and demanded that the pacifist hymn I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier be sung at every assembly.
Academics
P.S. 6 is a Teacher's College "Mentor School." It offers a particularly strong writing program based on the principles of Lucy Calkins. Students are expected to write plays, poetry, essays and short fiction by the time they graduate. The school also places a special emphasis on Art education. Its location, two blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, allows the students particularly good access to view the works of famous artists. P.S. 6 was also the recipient of a grant from the Annenberg Foundation to help fund art projects in the school.
Special events
Peter Yarrow has played a special benefit concert in the school's auditorium for many years to raise money for the school.