A prestigious school moves from London to Long Island.
Free letter today.
Hello everyone. Last night, friend-of-the-letter Paul Needham invited me to a dinner on the floor of Madison Square Garden. It was very fun to watch
, , and Jess Testa shoot some hoops in the company of Carmelo Anthony (who was also pouring his wines at the event).Today’s letter includes: a posh British school opens on Long Island, nightgowns are having a moment, goop is looking for an editorial director (in Los Angeles, sorry),
is hiring, and Nobu is opening in the Hamptons.
Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal published a story about an elite British boarding school opening on Long Island. , Feed Me’s French editorial assistant and resident international high school graduate, helped break down what it means for the British school to expand into New York.
The British invasion of New York started on August 22, 1776 during the Battle of Long Island.
Fast-forward past The Beatles to 2003, when London-based Soho House opened in the Meatpacking District (the club has since added DUMBO House and Ludlow House to their New York roster). More recently, the British social scene has been driving the headlines about New York’s newest members’ clubs. Originating from London's Mayfair district, The Twenty Two has established its first international outpost in Manhattan's Union Square. Last week, renowned London club proprietor Robin Birley, of 5 Hertford Street and Oswald's fame, introduced Maxime's to New York's Upper East Side.
Later this year, The Harrow School, a 450-year-old London institution, will open its doors to students who’d like to pay $75k tuition for its new campus on Long Island.
Here’s something no one tells you before you move to the England: Public schools aren’t public. Not even close. In fact, they’re private. The term, confusingly, comes from the idea that these schools were once open to the “public”—as in, not limited to religious orders or specific localities—and run not for profit. But make no mistake: they’re elite institutions with eye-watering tuition, confusing uniforms, and a centuries-old knack for producing prime ministers. There are also private schools, which really are private, and tend to be boarding schools. Oh, and all boarding schools aren’t necessarily public or private, there’s also State Boarding Schools, which really are public! If you didn’t grow up in the British system, this is all likely to sound counterintuitive.
“Harrow is 453 years old, which by UK standards isn’t crazy, but is more than enough time for traditions and legends to permeate the environment.”
The most notorious British public schools are a storied group called the “Clarendon Nine”, which includes names like Eton, Westminster, Winchester, Rugby, St. Paul’s, and Harrow. Two of these usually dominate the discussion: Harrow and Eton. My understanding is that this is due to the fact that they are the only ones to have kept their fully boarding, boys-only, model. A lot of stories and stereotypes circulate around both schools because of the mystique surrounding them. They’re difficult to get into, have an impressive alumni network (James Blunt, Benedict Cumberbatch, George Orwell, Boris Johnson), and are often compared to Hogwarts (it doesn’t help that Etonians have to wear cape dresses, and Harrovians wear silly hats — both of these things are staples of the wizard wardrobe.) Sometimes the alumni are a bit too successful… Both schools have come under some heat for perpetuating socio-economic divides: 20 British PMs went to Eton, and 7 to Harrow (Westminster has 6! Take that, class inequality!) Harrow leans slightly more athletic, Eton more academic, and both are permanently ensnared in cultural debates about privilege and legacy.
Harrow proper is 453 years old, which by UK standards isn’t crazy, but that’s still more than enough time for traditions and legends to permeate the environment. Talk to an ex-Harrovian, and there’s a list of memories they're sure to mention. On the first day as a new student, you’re marched up the warped wooden stairs of the Old School, into the Fourth Form Room, where names are carved into the walls—a kind of historical graffiti turned sacred rite. Anecdotally, this is where they filmed the “Wingardium Leviosa” scene in Harry Potter, go rewatch it! Emphasis is placed on making sure the students are aware not only of their passage by the institution, but also of that of “the Giants of Old”, the alumni that bestowed upon the school its prestige. Students are frequently reminded that they are starting their adolescent lives and education in the same position as men such as Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru (the first PM of India), Lord Byron, or Richard Curtis. Harrovians are told this almost daily by ‘Beaks’ (the term they use for teachers), especially on Monday morning, when they convene in the Speech Room and are faced with the paintings of these “Giants of Old” which line the old, wooden, walls of the assembly. Of course, all of this grand seriousness is offset by the silly hats students wear between classes, and the robes the professors have to rock. They also have a lot of songs. Like a whole song book-full-of-songs lot. Every 4 to 5 years they’ll fill up the Royal Albert Hall with students and Old Harrovians to sing them! Two editions ago, Cumberbatch was the host.
If all this sounds difficult to accurately replicate, it’s because it is. And yet Harrow, like many elite British schools, has gone international. Thirteen Harrow-branded schools already exist in Asia, with the Hong Kong outpost being the crown jewel. The idea is simple: license the name, recreate the uniforms and a few quirky traditions, and watch the tuition checks roll in. The international schools generate revenue for the original campus. But no one seriously considers them interchangeable with the real thing.
But now, the school is attempting to replicate the British experience on Long Island.
The About page for Harrow’s New York campus gets straight to the point – the school is situated to provide “easy access to New York City in one direction and the Hamptons in the other.” There’s a high chance that parents of students have homes in both directions. According to the WSJ, the school is also looking to attract international students, particularly those from Asia, who are looking for pathways to elite American universities. According to James Mower, director of studies at Harrow New York, “Harrow opening a school in New York is the biggest news right now in the international education community.”
I know what you’re wondering: sure, they have squash courts, but what’s a Long Island prep school without a lacrosse team? “We plan to have lacrosse teams in the future,” Matthew Sipple, the school’s principal, told Feed Me. Sipple also confirmed that some of the school’s families are based in the Hamptons, and that the meals will be catered by Lessing’s Hospitality Group. Proposed weekend trips for students include the Bronx Zoo, the Guggenheim, the Charles Dickens Festival, and Knicks vs. Celtics at MSG. Sounds like a lot of time on a school bus.
Some Harrovian families aren’t thrilled about the New York expansion. Instead, they feel that it’s going to seriously dilute the school’s brand in an extremely visible market. When you think about it, why would a high-net-worth New York family choose a fledgling boarding school on Long Island over, say, Andover, Exeter, or Deerfield? Avenues—the shiny-new downtown day school— thrived and attracted this crowd because it raided the faculty of Dalton, Brearley, and Collegiate. It had a real plan: offer a top prep school, credentialed faculty and all, to New York’s downtown. Harrow New York, so far, seems to be leading with heritage cosplay.
Harrow doesn’t send its own teachers to Harrow International Schools. Nor any of its cool old paintings. Nor most of its traditions and vocabulary. That might be fine in Hong Kong, where the cultural cachet of a British education still resonates in specific post-colonial ways. But in New York? Where the Ivy League is oversaturated, and every prep school parent already has strong opinions about which squash coach to bribe? It’s a hard sell. Why would anyone send their kids to this untested school if they’re strong enough or connected enough to get into 1. The tried and true original location or 2. these other top schools in the area. The reality is, they’re likely not going to get the cream of the crop when it comes to who applies. A recent graduate who’s planning to move to New York said they’re dreading the need to clarify that they went to the real one. Others worry that the Harrow name will lose value, becoming another in a line of elite brands watered down by international expansion. One person told me that the new Long Island campus will attract “interesting people from crazy families.”
“One person told me that the new Long Island campus will attract ‘interesting people from crazy families.’”
There’s also the question of fit. The British system is rigid, tradition-bound, and heavily class-coded. The American private school landscape, while just as elite, runs on a different flavor of exclusivity—more athletic recruiting, less Latin. More “leadership,” less lineage. I wonder where the students that fit both of these bills will come from, and whether they’ll opt for Harrow New York within a competitive marketplace.
So: New York has been tending towards the British. London society is heavily dominated by which high school you went to and which members club you’re a part of/where you eat out/go to see people. Clearly this has a strong appeal in New York, which has been importing London based members-clubs. Now, it’s importing the schools that feed into these member clubs as well.
The concern is: Harrow New York might find students. But will it find Harrovians?
And more importantly, what will they call their teachers?
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The Harrow and other British public school expansions are a sign of weakness. The top schools in the U.S. have enough support from their alumni and parents and through tuition so that they don't need to license their name. It's absolutely brand dilution.
Avenues is a for-profit model (which has never made sense to me.) Good private schools should not be set up to make a profit even if they own their real estate, which I'm pretty sure Avenues does not so they have to pay rent.
Sending your kids to *a* Harrow and not *the* Harrow is so tacky and would probably get you laughed at if you ran into some noble in the Annabel’s or 5 Hertford Street bathroom.