At the Cornelia Connelly Center, we believe that every girl deserves to be understood as an individual and supported in her quest to become the best person she can be. A strong support system is created through the partnership and hard work of every member of the Center’s community, including our teachers, parents, Board members, benefactors, and the girls themselves.

Students
Parents
Faculty and Staff
Board of Trustees

Beyond this community, the special character of our school has been inspired by a remarkable 19th-century educator, Cornelia Connelly. In contrast to the rigid schooling methods of her era, Cornelia insisted that teachers “trust the children” and articulated a progressive philosophy of educating the whole child – nurturing intellectual, spiritual, social and artistic development in a loving environment. While her then-radical thinking is now accepted wisdom, we continue to be motivated by her insistence on paying attention to the unique gifts of every girl. Click here to read more about Cornelia Connelly.

The Connelly Middle School is a member of the Holy Child Network of Schools and is sponsored by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. When creating a model for the Cornelia Connelly Center, we looked to the Nativity Mission Center, which since 1971 has helped disadvantaged boys on the Lower East Side to break the cycle of poverty through education at the middle school level. Our school was one of the earliest members of what is now the NativityMiguel Network, a nationwide movement fighting to break the cycle of urban poverty through education. We have taken a leadership role within the Network, which now includes 64 schools in 40 cities across the United States serving over 4,000 children.