Frequently Asked Questions

Gantry View’s 6:1 student-teacher ratio results in our staff knowing every student quite well. It facilitates the observation-and-feedback relationship necessary to help a child advance within any endeavor.

Students learn and achieve at their own best pace—as fast (or sometimes slower) as they can to maintain steady progress. Through intentional skill-building activities, students learn to set goals, work on their own, find resources, ask for help when they need it, and take responsibility for their progress. Through group activities, they communicate, share ideas, and help each other. Just as academic learning occurs through all types of activities, all forms of learning promote different non-academic competencies.

These multifaceted areas of learning are addressed through, and because of, our low ratio. These areas, and our ratio, serve as vehicles for the development of inquiry skills, as well as important thinking skills like problem solving, analysis, categorizing, and making connections.

Students can progress faster when they are not held back by the needs of a large classroom. Just as consequential, they are not forced to go forward before they have sufficiently grasped a required skill. The personalized attention they receive at GVS, along with the freedom to work at their best pace, enable them to advance with greater confidence and perceptible success in their academic achievements.

GVS’s structure encourages varied and meaningful social interactions. Students engage with their grade-level peers and also with students who are older and younger than they are, in ways that promote deep bonds and important learning experiences that reflect real life. GVS staff members (Learning Managers) observe students’ interactions and provide feedback grounded in empathy and the need to be open to another person’s point of view. In that way, the relationships between a student and their Learning Managers are as profound as any others they will have at GVS.

We maintain ongoing observations of student achievements in the core subject areas, and share them as trimester reports with parents. In between these reports, parents receive periodic updates from the Learning Managers about learning activities and what they can do to support them; have access to an online portfolio of their child’s work in their subjects; and receive regular updates about their child’s progress in both academic and non-academic areas.

GVS Learning Managers assess students daily by observing their learning achievements and the non-academic aspects of their progress. GVS administers some tests (when they can be established as serving an evaluative purpose), but in truth, everything a student does at Gantry View School contributes to our understanding of them. It is our hope to expand parents’ understanding of what learning actually is so as to help create a healthy, long-game dynamic around learning between them and their children.

There are set periods for the core subject areas (math, science, language arts, and social studies), as well as for enrichment classes like Mandarin, Spanish, movement education, coding, art, drama, and music. Children do best when there is a reliable structure; many of them thrive when there are some degrees of freedom (choice) within that structure.

Homework is assigned to practice developing skills, foster self-management skills, or continue with a project of great interest to the student. We do not assign the heavy load often seen in other schools, but we do bear in mind that our students need to know how to process at-home work because that is what will be asked of them in high school. As students get older, they can take increasing responsibility in assigning themselves homework, always in consultation with our Learning Managers.

We do not believe homework should be an ongoing tension point in a family, and we are available to partner with parents to strategize ways in which they can interact positively with their children around it.

At Gantry View, standardized testing is a tool for tracking a student’s progress over time, and for identifying any gaps that may exist in their skills and knowledge. It provides quantitative data on the achievements of Gantry View School students as compared to national norms. We do not use standardized tests to compare students to each other, to give them grades, or to evaluate our teachers.

This is a common issue in all schools. One approach is to make learning challenging, interesting, and backed by varied resources, while also helping students learn self-management skills and gain greater insight into what enables them to work more effectively. GVS imparts consistent messaging about productive habits. Our Learning Managers might also confer with parents, too, to develop strategies used at school and at home, so that students feel fully supported in their efforts. The more parents can truly partner with us in this regard, the more that can happen.

When conflicts between students arise, GVS Learning Managers engage them in a process that teaches the steps of age-appropriate conflict resolution. This can also involve guiding parents to tolerate the discomfort they feel when they see their children struggle, because some conflicts can not be wished or pushed away. They take time to resolve, and they are extremely valuable in teaching people (young and old) the skills for fact gathering, listening, and framing a situation in productive language.

GVS Learning Managers are experienced educators who typically have advanced degrees from major universities and/or extensive experience teaching their subject matter to children. They are trained to create and implement personalized instruction that takes into account students’ different “channels” for taking in information. You can read more about them on our Staff page.

GVS staff members function as a close-knit team, and many of us have worked together for years to build a shared vision and culture that permeates the academic and non-academic learning of our students.

Gantry View students use Chromebooks to acquire basic proficiency in typing, navigation, and coding, as well as to meet learning goals, including those required for research in all areas. Technology at Gantry View School supplements targeted learning of skills (e.g., math, geography, writing) and knowledge (related content and demonstrations). Just as important, students learn to think critically about the different technologies, including social media, e-mail, apps, games, video, and so forth. Computer use is carefully monitored by Gantry View staff.

Gantry View provides weekly classes in art history, styles, skill-building, and project making. Our Learning Managers also incorporate the arts (graphics, crafts, building, music) into students’ learning activities in the core subjects whenever possible. Gantry View School continually explores and arranges visits by and to NYC arts organizations.

Many students participate in a music history and appreciation class taught by an experienced instructor who is a classically trained pianist and composer, while others are part of a year-long drama class that results in a fully staged production.

Students participate in Movement Education, which involves strength-building, stretching, and cooperative games. Movement education is about gaining greater awareness of one’s physical abilities and the role that beneficial movement can play over the course of a lifetime.

Starting in 2022-23, one component of our Movement Education program will be fencing., taught in our dedicated movement space by a professional instructor.

Gantry View School offers affordable after-school activities daily. It hosts enrichment classes and homework help for those who need it. Typical offerings are chess, coding, fine art, Mandarin, and robotics. From our offered plans, parents can piece together an after-school schedule that makes most sense for their child.

Parents can send their children with lunch from home every day or opt into the meal plan we offer.

Gantry View School is registered from the NY Department of the Sate and the Department of Education. GVS will, in the near future, seek accreditation from a nationally known oversight agency for independent schools.

Children educated at Gantry View School do very well academically when they transfer to traditional schools. They may go through an adjustment period in response to larger classrooms, their associated regimentation and rules, and often less sophisticated content. When a student transfers to another school, Gantry View School does all that it can to assist in making the transition smooth. We provide a transcript and samples to show achievement and skills acquisition, and we can administer (or determine where to take) any required standardized tests in addition to the one we provide.

Gantry View School has solid plans to expand to more than 80 students within the next few years, and its facilities are designed for that growth. In its current form, there are a few available spots each year and a waitlist of applicants.

Gantry View School offers a comprehensive curriculum for students from kindergarten to 5th grade. Our goal is to provide a nurturing environment conducive to learning, growth, and achievement.

For each core subject, we use curricular materials that blend skill-building with content and conceptual understanding, enriched by hands-on activities. We also offer enrichment classes in the arts, physical education, technology, music, drama, and foreign languages. We strive to foster creativity, critical thinking, and a love for learning in our students.

Our school operates from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday through Thursday, and 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM on Friday. Extended care is also available for after school hours.

es, we offer a variety of extracurricular activities including fencing, dance, chess, fine art, coding, graphic novel writing, public speaking, math competition, music instruments, and much more. These activities complement academic learning and contribute to overall student growth.

Because of our low student-teacher ratio, we are able to address a wider range of learning needs than many schools. We can observe the details of a student’s learning and explore strategies for helping them to do their best. While we cannot meet the needs of every student, we have been successful with students with IEPs and with partnering with their outside support.

Student safety is a top priority. Our campus is secure and we have in place screening measures for all visitors. This is in addition to fire and lockdown drills, a staff that is trained in CPR/first aid, and a social-emotional curriculum that promotes a culture of safety and inclusion.

Go to our website! There you will find our admission processes as well as dates for information sessions and tours.