Dear Prospective Families,
Thank you for your interest in The Speyer Legacy School.
The Speyer Legacy School is a new, independent co-educational K-8 school in Manhattan, established to meet the needs of advanced learners. We seek to revitalize the vision created in 1936 when the Speyer School was established as one of the first programs intended for children with exceptional learning abilities. At The Speyer Legacy School, our modernized adaptation of that vision is built around the need not only to facilitate a child’s mastery of the required disciplines, but also to provide our students with ample time and freedom to pursue their particular passions through in depth study and collaborative work.
Our philosophy and approach to education have been developed in collaboration with a group of highly qualified teachers, consultants, and school administrators, who have dedicated their careers to education of these children with unique needs. Like Leta Hollingworth, we believe that gifted children benefit from being educated with their intellectual peers, and that they have special needs that may not be met in a traditional classroom setting.
Our school is unique in that we base the curriculum on our experience with advanced learners and the resulting recognition that they acquire knowledge and master concepts at a much faster pace than other children their age. With an accelerated and enriched curriculum, students in The Speyer Legacy School are given the gift of the time and opportunity to cultivate a range of higher-level cognitive skills and meaningful relationships with intellectually compatible peers. These children derive the greatest benefit from formal education when they are empowered to become active participants, capable of directing their own learning in an environment that is responsive to their interests, their questions and their quest to define the world.
The world they define through their studies is a broad one. Our commitment to educate the heart as well as the intellect of our students extends beyond the classroom through community service at both the local and global levels. We guide our students to recognize need and to bring to bear their resources of intellect, compassion and action to create change where change is needed. We believe they can change the world.
It is our pleasure to share with you this glimpse into The Speyer Legacy School.
Connie Williams Coulianos, MA
Esther Kogan, Ed.D
The Leadership Team
