Student Life

Browning is a school built upon forming strong relationships in which boys are truly known by their teachers and our educational professionals. We strive to support each student in reaching his highest potential by meeting his academic, physical, and social-emotional needs. The Student Support Team (SST) is a collaborative group of educators who meet weekly in each division to plan for and facilitate the support and resources each student needs to thrive. The SST includes division heads, deans, counselors, our nurse, academic learning specialists, and the Director of Equitable Practices and Social Impact. This team works closely with teachers, families, and students to ensure the success of every Browning student.

The health of the whole child includes physical wellness. A dedicated full-time health educator and two counselors provide a comprehensive health and wellness curriculum across all three divisions.

We have two professionally-trained and certified counselors on campus, including our Director of Wellness who works primarily with grades K-6 and our upper grades counselor who works with students in grades 7-12. Additionally, a consulting psychologist supports the work of the wellness team, providing supplemental resources and counsel to faculty and families as needed. Our wellness team is key in the life of the school, working closely with students, faculty, administration, families, and outside professionals to ensure the mental and emotional health and wellness of our boys.

MORE ABOUT THE BROWNING WELLNESS TEAM

• Offers student check-ins and meets with boys one-on-one to support their wellbeing.

• Conducts social-emotional and life skills lessons in collaboration with our health educator.

• Organizes targeted small groups to provide support and skill building.

• Consults with classroom teachers regarding social-emotional, executive functioning, and conflict-resolution support for students.

• Completes classroom observation of students as needed when questions arise about social-emotional challenges or learning differences.

• Provides family education sessions and professional training for faculty.

• Provides resources and referrals when outside support is needed.

The Browning School has a team of four full-time learning specialists who work directly with students and teachers to support the academic success of each student. Each division has a dedicated learning specialist, ensuring student progress from year to year throughout a boy’s Browning career. Additionally, a dedicated math specialist for Grades K-8 works directly with students to bolster their math skills, as well as supports teachers in curriculum development and pedagogical practices in the mathematics classroom.

MORE ABOUT THE BROWNING LEARNING SUPPORT TEAM

• Consults with teachers to provide pedagogical strategies to best meet the needs of all learners.

• Offers targeted pull-out and push-in intervention for individuals or small groups.

• Assists with academic progress monitoring and collects assessment data.

• Provides study skills instruction and targeted individualized assistance with executive functioning skills.

• Provides families with resources for home or outside support and collaborates with outside support providers.

• Coordinates documentation and implementation of reasonable accommodations for individual students as needed.

• Coordinates the implementation of universal (in all subjects and across all Middle and Upper School grade levels) organizational and executive functioning skills, such as note-taking, annotation, and graphic organizer use.

The Middle School advisory program connects a caring adult to a student both in an individual and group setting to provide academic and social-emotional learning and support, and serve as a point person for families. Each Middle School student is carefully  assigned a grade-level advisor  who, in addition to leading his grade-level advisory group,  also serves as his homeroom teacher. As his homeroom teacher, the advisor is scheduled to see each boy at the start of each day and thus provide guidance and support on an ongoing basis.  Bimonthly full-period advisory meetings focus on topics relevant to navigating life in middle school - from friendship to identity to executive functioning.

The Advisory system connects each student to a faculty member who leads a group of eight to nine students as their advocate and adult resource during their Upper School years. A multifaceted approach weaves together the focused efforts of homeroom teachers, advisors, counselors, health educators, ethical technology educators, and peer guidance. Grade 9 and 10 students will be in advisory groups with their grade peers only, while Grade 11 and 12 students meet in mixed groups across those grades.  Our Peer Leadership group is a team of Grade 12 students who meet regularly with Grade 9 students to discuss and advise the younger boys about the academic and social challenges ahead of them. Grade 10 students participate in the annual Frost Valley trip which brings together the sophomores from our peer single-sex schools – Brearley, Chapin, Collegiate, Nightingale-Bamford and Spence – for a retreat at the Frost Valley YMCA camp facility in the Catskills. During their three days in Frost Valley, students, led by peer leaders, attending faculty from all of the peer schools and outside facilitators, have the opportunity to talk about issues important to their social and academic lives. Organizations outside of Browning, such as FCD, Hallways and the Mount Sinai SAVI program, contribute their expertise to our SEL programming by meeting with the students of the Upper School to address issues such as sexuality, substance abuse and gender identity.

The Grade 12 Peer Leadership and the Grade 11/12 Key Society programs allow our boys to serve the School while developing their own leadership skills, sense of identity, and sense of self as they prepare for a transition to college. These students are selected in a competitive process and trained rigorously. 

Peer leaders work with Grade 9 boys to orient them to the Upper School, strengthen their bonds with one another and other Upper School students and facilitate important gatherings including the Grade 9 retreat and the Frost Valley trip with Interschool peers. They also attend the Grade 6 China Folk House trip as counselors.

Juniors and seniors in the Key Society serve as Browning’s ambassador group exemplifying its mission and core values. Through their experiences, the Key Society boys learn how to reflect thoughtfully on their time at Browning and showcase Browning in a way that goes beyond facts and figures to provide insight into how students lean into our mission.

Grade 5 visits the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic Aquarium and Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center at Mystic, CT.

Grade 6 visits the China Folk House Retreat in Harpers Ferry, WV.  On a sprawling 1,400-acre wilderness preserve, this cultural haven is dedicated to experiential learning and environmental stewardship.⁠ Grade 12 counselors accompany boys on this trip along with faculty members.

Grade 7 boys visit Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, NY,  to broaden their studies of the natural world.

Grade 8’s trip to Washington, D.C. features an exploration of the responsibilities of citizenship and how public memory is created and preserved in our Nation's Capital.

One of the highlights of the Grade 9 curriculum is their study abroad program at The Island School in The Bahamas.⁠ This unique trip immerses students in hands-on scientific research, sustainable living practices, and the pursuit of solutions to real-world challenges.

In Grade 10 boys go to the Frost Valley YMCA camp in Claryville, NY, joining their peers from other Interschool single-gender schools. Students engage in thought-provoking discussions and enjoy outdoor activities.

Our Grade 11 and 12 boys take a three-day college trip at the beginning of the school year.  This annual tradition plays a pivotal role in aiding juniors and seniors to explore a diverse array of colleges, potentially uncovering previously unconsidered options.

Upper School Browning students participate in international exchanges in collaboration with Marymount School and its partner schools in Colombia, France, and Italy. These experiences foster cross-cultural interactions and learning for our students, strengthening our global connections within our school community.