Applying to Grades 1-5

The application for the 2026-2027 school year will be available on August 4, 2025, via Ravenna Admissions Portal. The application form is due on November 15, 2025. 

After submitting the online application via Ravenna, you will be taken to a payment page.

• The non-refundable application fee is $10. If we are able to activate the application, the family would then pay the remaining $50 of the application fee.
• The application fee is reduced to $25 for families that will be applying for Financial Aid; enter partial waiver code HMFinAid2025 when prompted in Ravenna.

Grade 1

Grades 2 - 4

Horace Mann School has partnered with ERB to provide the ISEE Primary to Horace Mann School applicants. For information regarding the ISEE Primary please contact ERB or admissions@horacemann.org and information will be sent regarding scheduling and registration. Test results must be received by January 15, 2026. 

Grade 5

Schedule the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) by going to the ISEE page on the ERB website. Test results must be received by January 15, 2026. 

Grade 1 

Parents may submit their request online to their current school via the Ravenna Admissions Portal for the school to fill out the Horace Mann Confidential Report. Schools may submit the ISAAGNY Confidential School Report if they prefer. The Confidential School Report must be received by January 15, 2026.

Grades 2 - 5

We want to get to know you, your family, and your child better during the admissions process. In particular, we encourage you to consider how your family’s and your child’s life experiences to date have shaped who your child is, who you hope or imagine they will become, and what role or roles you hope their school will play. Submit the parent statement via the Ravenna Admissions Portal. The mandatory parent statement must be received by January 15, 2026. 

All families who wish to apply for Financial Aid are required to complete the Clarity Application any time after September 4, 2025. We suggest that parents/guardians wait to complete Financial Aid application materials until early October to ensure that the information provided is as current as possible. In addition to the 2024 tax documentation required in Clarity, we may require families to upload copies of other documents, where applicable. Other supplemental forms are sometimes required depending on family circumstances and can be uploaded directly in the Clarity dashboard. Financial aid application materials must be submitted by November 15, 2025.

Visit our Financial Aid page for more information.

In early January, please check on your application status to confirm that the application is complete. The file must be complete by January 15, 2026, for the applicant to be considered for admission. 

We typically notify families of the admission decision in February. For Grades 1-5, these decisions may be released later in the year. 

The New York metropolitan area is filled with wonderful schools, and most children would be happy at any number of those schools. Horace Mann School is unique in that it is the largest independent school in New York, and one of the largest in the country.

Our size gives us the advantage of depth and breadth of program that many smaller schools cannot sustain, without sacrificing the smaller class sizes and strong faculty-student relationships that are a hallmark of independent school education. Horace Mann students, from an early age, are given more independence and choice than many of their counterparts, in and out of the classroom. Our size provides a diverse student population from the tri-state area, representing more than 150 zip codes and many different backgrounds. We also have more than 260 talented faculty members with a range of teaching experiences and academic interests.

The fact that Horace Mann School spans from Nursery through Twelfth Grade means that we can help manage the transitions for our students, and pay very close attention to what has gone before and what comes next to ensure that students are well prepared for what they are learning now.

Our location provides a suburban country day school campus within close reach of all New York City has to offer.

Our process is designed to be age appropriate, and at every level we are looking for students who will benefit from and be successful in our program, and we also look for families who will be positive members of our community. We base that assessment on all the pieces of the application, including but not limited to the school records, teacher recommendations, and the interview.

We also find the standardized testing to be important because it provides the only 'standard' measure that all applicants have in common. We see applicants from many different areas and many different schools, and their backgrounds are varied. The testing enables us to assess them compared to the larger group. However, the standardized test is only one measure of an applicant's success, and we use it in conjunction with the other required materials. Please refer to the First Look Insight or ISEE websites for more information about the tests. We are aware that some area schools no longer require testing for First Grade. Please know that while the test is an important part of our process, it isn't the most important part of our process. 

There is no such thing as a typical Horace Mann student, nor do we have a typical applicant.

For Nursery through Grade 3, we have a strict September 1 birthday cutoff.

For Grade 1, children must turn 6 by September 1 of the year they wish to enter; for Grade 2, children must turn 7 by September 1 of the year they wish to enter; and for Grade 3, children must turn 8 by September 1 of the year they wish to enter. 

Horace Mann School does not anticipate that we will be providing Forms I-20 for F-1 student visas for students. New enrolling international students will be required to obtain and demonstrate another type of valid legal status. Note that Horace Mann School requires that one or both parents, or a permanent legal guardian, will be in residence with their children during the school year. If the parent or legal guardian who will be in residence with their child(ren) during the School year is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, they must provide the School with proof of valid legal status to enter and remain in the United States during the School year.

View the tuition schedule here. 

All non-tuition required fees are due June 1 for all students on any payment plan. 

Horace Mann School does not provide transportation. For those enrolled families not being serviced by the New York City Board of Education or their local public school district in Westchester County, NY, the School partners with a for-profit transportation company - SuperSelby. The owners of SuperSelby, The Selby Family, have been transporting our students for almost 50 years. 

Interested families may choose to engage in a contract with SuperSelby and can learn more about service options at their website here. Service is not provided to all locations, and bus service is not provided to or from the Nursery Division. Routes, including pick up and drop off locations, are determined by the bus company based upon the students who register for service and may vary from year to year. It is not always possible for SuperSelby to offer door to door transportation; in many instances, students will need to walk to a local bus stop. Students who reside in the five boroughs of New York City may be eligible for a free Student /OMNY Card (formerly the MetroCard), and the 242nd Street stop of the 1 Subway route is one block from campus. 

Horace Mann School partners with FLIK Independent School Dining for our food service. Our food service program is not allergen-free. The health and safety of our students and other guests is the highest priority for FLIK Independent School Dining, and a variety of protocols and procedures are in place for those students or employees with food allergies or intolerances. FLIK Independent School Dining also implements associated tested-and-proven standard operating procedures that provide the utmost public health protection in support of their food-allergic customers

At the HM Lower Division, a separate, allergen-friendly menu is written monthly to accommodate students with documented medical needs. The menu consists of meals that are made without the nine major food allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, egg, milk, wheat, soy, sesame plus gluten). All students with a documented medical need will receive the same daily meal regardless of their allergy/allergies or special dietary needs. It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to notify the school nurse of all documented food allergies, food intolerances, or special dietary needs that are for medical purposes. Parents of students with documented medical needs that do not wish for their student to participate in the allergen-friendly menu/special plate will be required to keep a signed waiver on file with the school nurse. The student will then be permitted to select food from the hot line when desired, utilizing the allergy board, signage, and assistance from staff to determine an appropriate meal for their medical needs.

For more information about our campus Dining Services, click here.

Students enrolled in Grades K-5 should have access to a laptop or desktop computer at home for occasional use under parental supervision. If there is a question about this requirement, please contact our Director of Enrollment Management Lisa Moreira at lisa_moreira@horacemann.org. Questions about recommended hardware or software may be addressed to the Technology Department at technology@horacemann.org.