FAQ

The academic day has staggered arrival and dismissal times by grade level and division. For Lower School the day begins between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. and ends between 2:50 and 3:10 p.m. Middle and Upper School hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., though students are expected to arrive by 7:50 a.m.

Early drop-off is available beginning at 7:15 a.m.; students are supervised in the gym until 7:50 a.m. This service is free of charge.

An extended day after-school program is available to students in grades PS-5 for an additional fee. See the Afterschool & Mini-Courses page.

Students in grades 6-12 are expected to leave campus by 4:00 p.m. unless they are participating in a supervised activity.

Our average class size is 14.  Our student-to-faculty ratio is 6:1.

We offer Afterschool and Mini-Courses for children in Preschool through sixth grade. Afterschool is available from school dismissal until 6:00 p.m. Mini-courses typically run from 3:30 until 4:30 p.m. and can be combined with aftercare until 6:00 p.m. For additional information and a listing of current fees and mini-courses, please visit K-F Life, Afterschool & Mini-Courses.

Yes, we do!  International students are valuable members of our multi-cultural community. Kew-Forest is authorized by the US Department of Homeland Security, Student & Visitor Exchange Program (SEVP) to issue I-20 forms to sponsor non-US citizens wishing to secure an F-1 student visa.  We also offer an English Language Learner (ELL) course for students for whom English is a secondary language. Our International Student Coordinator provides additional support, guidance, and in-language services to students and their parents. For more information, please visit our international student page.

Yes! We are eager to welcome you to campus either in person or via Zoom. There are multiple options for learning more about our school:

• Regularly scheduled School Tours are available October through mid-December during school hours.
• Virtual Information Sessions are held in October, December, and April.
• Campus Open Houses are scheduled for November 11 for Lower School applicants and December 2 for Middle and Upper School applicants.

Go to Visiting Kew-Forest for more information and to register.

Individual appointments for family-specific questions can also be scheduled by contacting admission@kewforest.org.

We accept applications for all grade levels.  Our primary entry points are Preschool, Kindergarten, 6th grade, and 9th grade.

We will consider mid-year* applications if there is space available in the grade. Please contact the Office of Admission before submitting an application.

*A mid-year start is considered any entry date after the official first day of school.

Yes, we accept applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Applications that are not complete and cannot be processed during the priority round will be processed from April 1 through the start of the school year. We will issue an admission decision on completed files if a space is available. Families should understand there is no guarantee of a space being available and they may be placed in a waiting pool.

Each year the number of qualified applicants exceeds our available spaces.  The Admission Committee will offer selected students a spot in the waiting pool if they are deemed admissible but there are no spaces available.  Parents must either accept or decline being placed in the pool. The pool is not ranked and there is no way to predict a candidate's chances of being called from the pool.  In the event a space becomes available, we will consider all active candidates for the grade and the class composition when deciding who to admit.

No, Kew-Forest is an independent school and not affiliated with any religious organizations. Students and families of all faiths are welcome to apply.

Yes, we require all students to wear a uniform during the academic day. There is a separate physical education (PE) uniform.

Under the tradition of "Senior Privileges", students in the 12th grade are allowed to wear "business casual" attire to school instead of the uniform.

On designated "Jagwear Days", all members of the community are invited to come to school wearing items that show their school spirit (the jaguar is our mascot). Jagwear includes school branded t-shirts, sweatshirts, and fleeces or simply wearing the traditional school colors of blue and crimson.

Yes, the school participates in the NYC DOE Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) "Stop-to-School" program and free MetroCard program. Please visit the NYC Public Schools Transportation page for additional information on eligibility.

Also, the school is conveniently located near the E and F trains and bus lines operating on Queens Blvd. and Union Tpke. It is easily accessible by car for curbside drop-off and pick-up.

Yes, the cost of lunch and snacks is included in tuition.  Lunch is a time for our community to come together, so we want to be sure everyone can participate in the same way.  We use Butter Beans Kitchen as our food service provider offering students many nutritious and varied meals. In addition to the rotating menu options, there are always salad fixings, sandwiches, plain pasta, and yogurt available.

To see our current tuition (2023-24 school year) and information about tuition assistance, please visit our Affording Kew-Forest page. The Board of Trustees usually sets tuition for the following academic year in January. Typically, there is a slight percentage increase each year.

As an independent school, we are self-supporting through tuition revenue, auxiliary program revenue, and philanthropic donations. All revenue is used to finance the operations and maintenance of the school.

We aim to have our tuition be comprehensive, so that families are not surprised by fees after enrolling.  Aside from academic year instruction and extracurricular activities, tuition covers the cost of snacks and lunch during the school days, books, field trips, and the K-F Parent Association fee. 

Typically, the only other significant cost families will incur will be for uniforms. There are also additional costs associated with payment plans, tuition refund insurance, and afterschool care and mini-courses.

Yes, we offer three standard plans: (A) Full payment by June 15th; (B) Sixty percent payment June 15th, forty percent balance due November 15th; and (C) Eight monthly payments, beginning June 15th.  For options B and C, there is a $150 administrative fee.

The TA review process is holistic and considers many elements of a family’s financial circumstances in calculating what we believe each family can reasonably afford to contribute toward tuition. Family size, income, assets, and reasonable cost of living, are among some of the factors that are used to determine a family's level of discretionary or disposable income available for tuition. Please visit the Affording Kew-Forest page, where you can learn more about our Tuition Assistance program and submit your application.

Please note that TA applications must be submitted alongside the admission application. TA applications submitted after a notification of admission may not be accepted.

Newly enrolling families* are expected to contribute a minimum of 20% of the tuition. TA will be applied to the remaining 80% based on a family's level of need. TA does not apply to the cost of uniforms, transportation, or the afterschool program.

* Exceptions may apply to students from certain partner access organizations and sending schools. Contact Admission for more information.

Students applying to our Preschool class must turn three by September 1 of the year of entry.  For all other grades, a student's chronological age is considered along with social/emotional development, school experience, the student's current grade, and the age range in the cohort they would be entering. For example, a student currently in 1st grade with a November birthday (missing the September 1 cut-off) could be considered a viable applicant to second grade. Final grade placement is at the school's discretion.

We do not require the ISEE, SSAT, or TOEFL  test results in our application process. International applicants for whom English is not a native language are required to take an online English language assessment. Test access will be provided free of charge during the admission process. Typically, an Intermediate level is required for successful transition to our Middle and Upper School programs of study.

Adelphi University
Barnard College
Baruch College (CUNY)
Binghamton University (SUNY)
Boston University
City College (CUNY)
Columbia University
Cornell University
Davidson College
Dean College
Fordham University
Hofstra University
Hostos Community College (CUNY)
Indiana University
John Jay College (CUNY)
Johns Hopkins
McMaster University
MIT
Moorehouse College
Northeastern
NYU
Pace University
Queens College (CUNY)
Smith College
St. John's University
Stony Brook University (SUNY)
The Cullinary Institute of America
The George Washington University
The New School
Trinity College
Union College
United States Military Academy (West Point)
University of California - Irvine
University of Delaware
University of Michigan
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Wesleyan University
Williams College

The roster of interscholastic teams that K-F fields can vary year to year based on student interest. Typically we offer students the following options: soccer, volleyball, cross-country, track, tennis, table-tennis, basketball, archery, badminton, and fencing.

All clubs are student initiated and vary from year to year. Students may apply to start a new club if they have an interest in an area not already covered. 

Current clubs open to both Middle and Upper School students: American Math Competition, Fall Film Festival, Forensics, Games & Strategy, LGBTQIA+ Awareness, Psychology, and Story Club.

Clubs open only to Upper School students: The Blotter (yearbook class), Cultural Diversity Club, Kaleidoscope (social justice, diversity, inclusion), K-F Thinkers Magazine, Science Research, Mock Trial, Model UN.