High Schools in Monsey and the surrounding area

Bais Yaakov of Ramapo is the smallest high school in Monsey. They accept thirty girls to a grade, the result being that if those girls are cliquey or not your daughter’s type, she will have a miserable high school experience. The staff is very warm- too warm for some girls. They are very into having personal relationships with their students. Some girls thrive from the attention; others feel stifled and hate it.

Bruers has between forty and sixty girls to a grade. They’ve become a lot more modern over the past few years, but have been trying to change that by accepting more yeshivish girls. They have a very high level of academics.

Bais Yaakov of Monsey is the biggest school, with 100 girls in each grade. They accept girls of every type, from extreme yeshivish to modern. Their staff is very warm, but due to the large amount of girls in each grade, your daughter would have to actively seek a relationship with a teacher if she wants one. They are known for having high level academics, but they are very accommodating to girls that have a hard time keeping up. There is an option to take lower level tests in the mainstream classes.

While your daughter has to be a very specific type to have friends in Bruers and Ramapo, there is a very low chance of her not making it socially in BYM due to the large of array of girls.

Why don’t you start by asking your friends and neighbors who have the same values and hashkafos as you? From there, continue with a Rav who knows your family and the needs of your daughter well. You might also want to ask some of her current teachers.

The Wolf

We have been with Ateres almost since the school started and BH we are very happy. It’s not perfect, but then nobody is. Ateres has been the right school for our daughters, ranging from elementary to high school to coming back as a teacher.

Ateres is really about helping each girl develop her unique relationship with Hashem. Questions are encouraged because the Torah has all of the answers. Lovelyme – it is interesting that you picked up on “fun” as simchas hacahim is a crucial value.

Ateres has a dress code, not a uniform. I love seeing how the girls express their personalities through their clothes and accessories.

BYM would be great for her as I said it’s very academic and fun she’s gotta be prepared to work hard

Girls in Monsey tend to go largely to BY Monsey, Ramapo, Breuer’s, and Ateres in Monsey and MHS and Bruriah outside Monsey (I obviously know people who went elsewhere but not in particularly big groups).

Which elementary school your daughter goes to makes a difference. Some will encourage some schools over others and some will provide an edge to get into some schools over others (it’s harder to get into Ramapo from Ateres than from YSV, for example, or it was when people I know tried a few years ago).

If you want intellectually stimulating, you may want MHS. (As I basically already essentially outed myself on here years ago, I may as well continue and say that I went to MHS from Monsey, if you have any questions.) The hashkafa might not be what you’re looking for (while it is right-wing it is not explicitly BY and there are some non-BY girls, to be sure), and the types of girls there really depend on the year, it easily has better academics than any Monsey school. I really enjoyed it, though I’m shocked at how much elements have changed since I was there not particularly long ago.

Bruriah also is out of town, has great academics (though in a different way than MHS) and is probably the most “Modern-with-a-capital-M” school on the list. I have several friends who went there and loved it.

The next best academics is probably Breuer’s. They seem to be doing a really good job in that regard, and are known for it. It is definitely a Bais Yaakov but more chilled girls feel comfortable there. I know people there and they definitely like it. The class sizes are getting smaller and they’re getting more selective, apparently trying to become more BY (though I haven’t personally seen the ramifications).

Ateres is much more chilled. The academics are probably similar to Breuer’s’, with the addition of AP and more college-level classes (including a Touro partnership). The population of girls will depend on the year. It has BY hashkafos to whatever extent but the population is largely not BY. This is a fact, not at all a condemnation- you just have to know if it’s for you. It’s definitely very warm, very relaxed, etc. The dress code aspect is good (they copied it off of MHS, which has the same thing). I have a lot of experience with the school and it’s great for many but not for all (which is the same for any school, really).

I know very little about BY Monsey currently (everything I’ve been saying about the other schools comes from personal or close second-hand experience, which I don’t have with BY).

Same with Ramapo, except that I’ve heard that they’re trying to become much more yeshivish. But like I said, I have little to no first-hand experience.

Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to follow up!

Differently than you do, perhaps- that’s probably a question you should answer here so you can get targeted replies. Everything here has been really general- everyone likes every school for SOME reason but nobody will know what you like unless you say so.

I didn’t really use the terms (very deliberately, as I didn’t know what you wanted) but the only time I used “modern” was in the capital-M sense, about Bruriah, as in a school with a Modern Orthodox hashkafa. (Which it is to an extent- it has many types of girls- but they lean more BY than other MO schools do. And I’m not sure they officially call themselves MO.)

Like, if you were to ask me, I’d say:

BYM=really yeshivish

BYR=really yeshivish

Breuer’s=yeshivish but not excessively so

Ateres=hanhala yeshivish, students not- “modern” but not Modern

MHS=weird mix- hanhala mostly yeshivish but not entirely, mixed BY and not student body

Bruriah=hanhalah mixed yeshivish and RWMO, student body RWMO

This may make perfect sense to you or you may vociferously disagree or you may think it’s gobbledegook- it’s helpful to know what your frame of reference is.

I think maybe your giving us an example of where you’re at (which elementary school, be’erech) might be helpful so we can customize.

No girls’ school on this thread teaches gemara. Several may have girls with boyfriends, though none in an “institutionalized” way. (Then again, I know a BYM girl with a boyfriend- it’s an individual thing, nothing to do with the school specifically.) For Bruriah, Modern=Modern orthodox hashkafa. For MHS/Ateres, modern (which is a misnomer that I hate)=no uniform, less BY hashkafa, looser internet, etc rules.

Yeshivish hanhalah means school emphasizing strict uniform, internet ban, smartphone/cell phone ban, kollel ideology, etc. Yeshivish student body means that the girls would have done that anyway. Some such schools have a student body which is less yeshivish.

okay writersoul, no offence but you were a bit off with your assessment? BYM- really yeshivish?! its a community school! Breuers isn’t yeshivish! Theses statements are way too general

These days, most schools are a big mix. very few can be defined as really yeshivish or really modern.

Is there a more yeshivish high school in Monsey than BYM?

Joseph: If by more Yeshivish you mean more frum I believe Bais Rochel of Monsey used to fit the bill, but I think it’s become more Chasidish. And IIRC they teach in Yiddish.

Mrs. Plony- Bais Rochel officially isn’t considered chasidish, they call themselves heimish. yet the teachers all teach in Yiddish, they daven sfard, and most of the girls come from chasidish or tuna beigel families..

And btw I think now BYR is more yeshivish than BYM- they are more close minded, and are not as willing to accept girls from less yehivish backgrounds, thus resulting in generally 1 type of girls.

Great. I’ll be there.

Ateres

I’d be really surprised if more than one or two mothers wore pants at all.

The parent body is very diverse but not to that extent.

I know some alumnae who wear pants but that’s a personal thing. Their mothers don’t. (I also know a BYR alumna who wears pants. People do different things.)

ASHAR might be more likely to have mothers who wear pants, but even then I don’t know how common it is. (Actually, Joseph, you may be mixing them up, as R Fink was involved with ASHAR about fifteen years ago.)

I have a lot of different feelings about Ateres but I will say that it’s a really warm and welcoming school and that’s a great thing for students who want that.

No, it definitely doesn’t have an MO hashkafa (though in that case they would still be Orthodox…). They are definitely a Bais Yaakov by hashkafa, just with a diverse student body.

Who said BYR was modern?!?!

Ateres is a great school, I believe they’re moving to a real building no?

However many glowing reviews of a school you may see here, it’s hard to know where your kid will fit in. Ateres, for example, isto many people how PAP described it, but it was most definitely the wrong place for me. My high school (MHS) was the wrong school for my sister. It takes finesse to make the right choice.

Yes, okay, then, finesse=hishtadlus. You definitely have to do due diligence as well, as well as counting on siyata deshmaya.