Our Story
Founded in 1987 by Mrs Andrea Greystoke, Abercorn School remains a family led school with pupils at the heart of every decision.
Born and raised in New York and San Francisco, Andrea was educated at Radcliffe College, Harvard University, The University of California, Berkeley and King’s College, London where she pursued undergraduate and graduate studies in Mathematics.
Andrea became the first woman teacher at St. Paul’s Boys’ School and then again at King’s College School in London. She also spent a year as an investment analyst with Quilter, Hilton, and Goodison. She temporarily left the workforce to have her six children but returned to education with her first major school project, the foundation of Abercorn School at its early years building in St. John’s Wood in 1987.
Andrea’s belief that children are at the heart of the school underpins Abercorn’s values to this day and both guides decision making and informs the quality of relationships between the school and its families. Being a family run school itself, this unique perspective has resulted in the schools growth from its initial site to include the site of the former Mission Church, 60 Paddington Street.
Given Andrea’s extensive knowledge of both the US and the UK school systems and her belief in the benefits of a British style education Andrea founded The British International School of New York in 2006 on Manhattan’s East River. BIS-NY as it is affectionately known, has now grown also to become one of the leading international schools in New York City, selected by the Good Schools Guide (International) and with a track record of successful, happy, children just like it’s sister school Abercorn.
