HudsonWay Immersion School

525 W 52nd St

New York, NY 10069

18 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK, K-5
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 07, 2024

The language immersion program at HudsonWay has been a game-changer for our daughter. Her fluency in English and the immersion language has surpassed our expectations, and we credit the school's immersive approach for fostering such rapid and natural language acquisition. What truly stands out is her ability to communicate effectively and the genuine joy she takes in embracing diverse linguistic and cultural experiences.The carefully crafted curriculum challenges her intellect and sparks a genuine passion for learning. It's heartening to witness her excitement about exploring new concepts and tackling challenges, indicating that the school values the joy of learning as much as we do.Beyond academics, the close-knit community at HudsonWay has played a crucial role in shaping our daughter's positive attitude toward school. The supportive relationships she has built with teachers and fellow students have created a nurturing environment that encourages her to be herself and express her ideas confidently.
Submitted by parent on December 19, 2023

Hudson Way Immersion school is like the Mr. Miyagi of private schools in New York City. It’s small. You may never have heard of it, but it will teach your kid amazing academic and language skills while making them feel cared for as part of a family. The teachers are exceptional. They not only have high standards for every student, but are so kind and nurturing in getting each kid there. Like Mr. Miyagi’s dojo, the school believes in practice, repetition, and hard work, so there is a ton of homework.Our kids have only been here for 4 months, but we are surprised given how different each of our kids are just how flexible the teachers are. The instruction is highly structured with weekly assessments to make sure the kids are learning. The daily routine centers around teaching not just high-level skills in English, Math, Science, and your Target language (whether Chinese or Spanish) but hard work, leadership, and kindness to your fellow students. When you join the school, you join a family. When my wife first proposed we start taking our kids from a school that is 30 min from our home to Hudson Way, which is 50 min from our home, I thought she was nuts. The excellent teachers, personalized instruction, and high standards for every kid won me over. It’s only been four months, but I’m impressed by how much they have taught our kids. The kids are not only more able to converse, read, and write in Chinese, but also are so much more motivated and confident in their literary pursuits. We love coming home and finding them reading and writing in English and Chinese and wanting to quiz each other in math in the car. Like in the karate kid, switching schools is never easy, but we were lucky, we found our Mr. Miyagi.
Submitted by parent on February 28, 2022

Hudsonway Immersion School (HWIS) has been a great experience for our family. When looking for schools for our daughter to enter kindergarten we weren't looking for a private school. We were determined to find our daughter a solid dual language Spanish program that offered the academic excellence, "true" language education/literacy, and the strong support system she deserved. Many of the public schools we found did not meet our needs, but we found that HWIS hit all these marks and it opened our eyes to the possibilities for our daughter. Our daughter is shy, eager to learn, and takes time to be comfortable with new people. Since the first day of school she adored her teacher, made friends, and seems to make new friends with the other children and staff members every week as she excitingly tells us stories about her day. She comes home every day with a general sense of pride in what she learned. HWIS really focuses on building a strong culture, nurturing a childs mind, and bringing phenomenal talent in the teachers and administration to ensure the school itself continue to improve. We feel that immersive education is far greater than other schools that teach other languages as an exercise of repetition and translation. HWIS truly adheres to leverage the benefits of immersing the students with the language (Spanish /Mandarin) while teaching them the core curriculum. We feel we made the best possible choice for our daughter and have been extremely satisfied with her development and growth.
Submitted by parent on February 19, 2022

We are a proud HWIS family with 2 children in the NY Spanish program. We came to HWIS in search of a school that would provide a holistic education, help nurture our children as global citizens, and provide a nurturing environment that fuels their confidence and cultivates a love of learning… all while learning in Spanish! We have found all that and more. Our family does not speak Spanish at home so of course we were nervous about how our kids would transition to an immersion environment. To our delight, they adjusted seamlessly due to the care and expertise of their teachers and the welcome they felt from other students and the school staff.Our kids love going to school each day where they find age-appropriate leaning across a variety of disciplines and suited for diverse learning styles. The preschool program offers hands-on and play-based learning opportunities that foster creativity, movement, and teamwork. In Kindergarten, the students learn about reading and writing, in English and Spanish, by learning about topics that really interest them and thus motivate them to hone their literacy skills. A benefit of immersion education is that the students learn Spanish by learning about other topics in Spanish- like Math, Social Studies, and Science. At HWIS, education is rooted in core school values and a commitment to character development. The teachers’ depth and experience shines through in the way they give unique care to each student, incorporate creativity into class activities, connect with and nurture their students, and cultivate a partnership with families. Our kids have also benefited from the small class sizes and variety of after-school programs available. Both of them come home excited to tell us how they spent their day.HWIS had been good for our whole family, providing a strong, welcoming, and supportive community for all of us. As parents, we have been grateful for the friendships we have made with other families, our primary social network these last 2 years. We look forward to getting to know new families and welcoming you to HWIS!
Submitted by parent on November 30, 2020

Our daughter is in her second year at Hudson Way, and we're so grateful to have her in the program. She is thriving with her teachers and classmates. We chose the school to provide our daughter with exposure to another language as we only speak English at home. She comes home singing songs in Mandarin, and had already started translating words for us. At age 3, social and emotional support is just as important as language development, and her teachers have been really wonderful. She is so excited to go to school everyday and comes home happy. It really means the world to our family to see her grow through school.
Submitted by parent on November 18, 2020

Our experience at HWIS could not be better. Our daughter is in the Spanish program and she absolutely loves it. We do not speak Spanish at home (I've been trying to learn for 10 years!) and our daughter was already speaking better than me in her first year at the school (at 4-years-old!) Beyond learning a second language, the quality of academic instruction at the school is exceptional. The small class sizes allow for individualized attention and cater to the progression of the child, while allowing for group and class cooperation as well. Our daughter's teacher is amazing! She is knowledgeable, capable and nurturing, as well as accessible and proficient. She inspires our daughter to love learning and makes it enjoyable for her everyday. The community of the school including teachers, administrators, students and other parents is positive and supportive. We feel comfortable approaching any of them about anything and know that they listen. They have handled the COVID pandemic with great competence. Our daughter continues to go to school safely in-person, and the degree of education and socialization she is receiving far surpasses parents I speak to at other schools. This was also the case during the remote learning period in Spring of 2020. We were amazed at how smooth the transition was, and just how much actual learning was still happening. I highly recommend this school.
Submitted by parent on August 13, 2020

Our children have been at HWIS for 5 years, beginning in pre-school (currently in elementary). We have been extremely happy with the education that our children have received. The class sizes are small, with high teacher-student ratios, so the kids get a lot of individualized attention. The teachers are very supportive and take a real interest in the kids' development.Our kids have done very well on standardized tests, scoring among the highest percentiles. We think they’ve been very well prepared academically by HWIS.Because the school is small, the administration is very responsive and its easy to meet with teachers and the administration. There is a real supportive, community feel among the kids and families. During the summer of remote learning, we’ve taken the opportunity to sample other schools (such as a school from California), and its clear that the Chinese level that our kids have achieved while studying at HWIS is noticeably higher than the kids from other schools. Based on our experience, we would definitely recommend HWIS to families that are looking for a great pre-school + elementary education while also mastering Mandarin at a high level.
Submitted by parent on May 12, 2020

Great experience and the school has done well navigating Covid and distance learning.
Submitted by parent on September 14, 2017

I would have loved for my son to attend this school but we had to move to another state after the summer camp. The review that says there is no love in the classroom is very puzzling to me. For those 3 weeks that my son attended the camp, he loved his Teachers. He even made friends, we wanted to request a play date but we were busy preparing for the move. He even cried when I told him that he wasn't going back. It's a good school to check out if you want your child to learn another language.
Submitted by parent on August 16, 2017

My husband and I were keen for our 3 year old son to learn Chinese, so I visited the school to see if it would fit our son's needs. The Principal was not friendly at all at first, but she did take us for a look around. When we went into a class, the teachers were yelling at the 2 and 3 year olds and didn't seem to have any control over the classes. The Chinese teachers use a very traditional way of teaching and from what I saw, they punish the children for small things like spilling a drink during snack time. From my observations, there was a lack of happiness and love for learning at the school.The whole experience was very disappointing. We live close by, so the school would have been perfect for us. I cannot recommend this school at all.
Submitted by parent on March 06, 2016

We have a son in the K-5 program at HudsonWay Immersion School, and it’s been a great experience. Our son is happy and excited about going to school every day. The level of Mandarin fluency he’s achieved is remarkable. After one year, he was able to present his science fair project from start to finish in Mandarin Chinese with ease. His ability to do math in both English and Chinese and move fluidly from one language to another as if he were a native speaker of both is incredible. The level of math taught at HudsonWay is more advanced than what students his age are learning at other top private schools in New York City, and his English reading and writing abilities are on par with kids his age in English-language private schools. Some of the other reviews mention disorganized e-mails and turnover by teachers, administrators and students. While this may have been true a couple years ago, it’s not an issue now and shouldn’t be a concern for families considering applying. There was turnover with administrative staff and teachers that accompanied a change in leadership at HudsonWay, which is not surprising in times of change and transition, but the school leadership has been stable for a couple years now and works well together. We’ve found the administration to be responsive to parent feedback, and the teachers are skilled and nurturing. Regarding students leaving HudsonWay after pre-school, it’s not unusual for parents to choose a more “traditional” English-speaking private primary schools in New York City starting in Kindergarten, so this is personal preference and not necessarily an indication of lack of confidence in HudsonWay. As for students leaving in elementary school which makes class sizes smaller the higher the grade level, this is a challenge for all language immersion schools (not just HudsonWay), that is, when a student leaves because their family moves to another city, it’s hard to fill that open spot because an incoming student entering in grade 2 would need to be able to read and write several hundred Chinese characters, for example.If Mandarin Chinese language fluency and having a child who’s culturally fluent and globally minded is important to you, then you should definitely consider HudsonWay immersion school. We’ve had a positive experience at HudsonWay Immersion School and recommend it.
Submitted by parent on March 01, 2016

We have been involved with HWIS (formerly Bilingual Buds) since the NYC campus first opened in 2010 and have had a very positive experience through the years. We currently have two children enrolled and our third will begin preschool this fall. When we first evaluated preschools, we decided finding a true “immersion” Mandarin program was paramount in selecting among the multiple independent schools to which our child had been accepted and found HWIS to be the only school in the area to meet this requirement.At a basic level, we have been very impressed with the school’s language immersion program and consider it an integral factor in our children having developed as native Mandarin speakers. Further, we have been very pleased with our children’s growth across academic subjects taught in both English and Chinese. The administration and staff have always had a very hands-on approach in developing overall curriculum while catering to individual student needs. While there were some challenges along the way as the school grew to overcome its initial “start-up” status, the founders and administration have continually been up-front and transparent with parents, very receptive to parent feedback and have held themselves personally accountable in steering the ship along the best course for the children.In the past couple years, we have been especially impressed with the progression in the English language arts, math and science curriculums as they quickly ramped to be on par with the strength of the Mandarin program. We have been very happy with the teaching staff across disciplines and also feel the kids have grown up in a warm, nurturing classroom environment. Our children are learning at an impressive pace and continue to find school a joy.Beyond the academics, we feel truly fortunate to be part of the HWIS community. Our children have thrived in their diverse classroom environments and have each made wonderful friends in their classmates. As parents, we genuinely appreciate other HWIS families and have made many great friendships ourselves.
Submitted by parent on February 29, 2016

Hudson Way Immersion School is the best Mandarin Chinese Immersion school in New York City. Our son has been in the primary school for 2 years now and is thriving in every way: academically, emotionally, and socially. We’re very happy to be a part of this school and the parent community at Hudson Way, which is very global, diverse and down-to-earth.The academic curriculum at Hudson Way is thoughtful and well researched, based on best practices, and is comparable to top private schools. Elizabeth, the director of the school, has over 30 years of language immersion education experience. Other staff members are all experienced in Mandarin immersion education, as well. We were amazed when my son came home after just 3 months of Kindergarten and was able to read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in Chinese from cover to cover and could write Chinese characters to make me a hand-written Thanksgiving Day card. This is impressive, given that many of his peers in English-speaking private schools can’t read this book in English at this age. My son’s Chinese is fluent, and his accent is authentic like a local Mainland Chinese native speaker. (In contrast, I’ve heard from parents of kids who attended Hudson Way for pre-school but moved to Avenues for primary school that their children’s Mandarin Chinese regressed after just one year at Avenues.) I like that Hudson Way is able to stream children according to their individual English reading and math level, which is possible to do at a smaller school. Although the class sizes are smaller and therefore provide for greater individualized attention, the flip side is that there are fewer classmates for students to be friends with over the course of their education at Hudson Way. There are pros and cons. We balance this by ensuring my son is active in team sports and makes friends through his other extra-curricular activities in addition to the friends he has at school. As the school grows and expands, this should become less of an issue. Overall, we’ve been happy with our experience at Hudson Way and would recommend it to others!
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2016

We've been very happy with our decision, but it's not the right school for everyone. We have two kids at the school. The oldest enrolled in the preschool when it was brand new. We seriously considered many options at each juncture - preschool and kindergarten. We were excited by the Mandarin immersion opportunity. We've stuck with the school through its growing pains because our kids have gotten a great education so far, and both are verbally fluent in Mandarin and are reading and writing Mandarin (as well as English; our older one is an avid reader in English). Some parents have griped about certain administrative issues - although we think the school is on more stable footing now - but we think that through it all, the school has consistently kept the academic curriculum its top priority, always thoughtfully seeking best practices. They've spent a great deal of time searching for, interviewing and most importantly, training the right teachers. One can't be only a language teacher to teach kids math or science in Mandarin (math/science is also taught in English in alternating weeks). Yes, there has been teacher turnover in the past, but the reasons that I'm aware of are largely beyond an administration's control and come with the territory of native-speaking Chinese, mostly young and talented, sought-after teachers. Immersion education is structurally challenging because in the older grades, it's hard to replenish enrollment lost through natural attrition with kids who don't already have some background in the language. So our oldest child has some tradeoffs by being in the "pioneer" class which is small, but their class is almost like semi-private tutoring. The teachers can tailor assignments to each child's level, and they're always available to parents for questions or communication about what's going on in the classroom. By luck or otherwise, the children all get along well, and both of our children have formed close friendships with many of their peers. The school also has a familial feel because of its size. All the parents have gotten to know each other well. Many socialize outside of school functions. We're diverse culturally, but we share an appreciation for the unique opportunity to have our kids benefit from a true immersion program in a difficult language and are willing to go beyond brand names to seek a strong education.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2016

I have two kids at this school-- both started at age 2 and one is in 1st grade now, the other is in pre-K. We will be sending them to the school again next year. My kids are happy and can read (in English and simplified Chinese), write (in English and simplified Chinese) and speak Mandarin (and English). Is the school perfect? No. It was a start up idea and created by a couple 10 years ago who wanted immersion options for their twin sons. There have been growing pains over the years (which I've been through and witnessed everything) and the school recently brought on new administration to run the school which has led to some parents liking the new administration and some parents not liking it-- which can be expected. I've been impressed with the new curriculum they've implemented and think it is very well thought out. The school has the best Mandarin language immersion curriculum in the city. My children's lessons are in Mandarin 80% of the week. If your priority is an immersion education -- this is the school for you. If you want a more established school or a school with bigger facilities that will have 1 language class a week or only 50% of the week in Mandarin (as is with Avenues), then maybe another school is for you. We have been happy with the teachers at the school -- the teacher in the pre-K class has been at the school for over 3 years, and my 1st grader's teacher is in her second year at the school. The school has high standards and has only hired native speaker teachers. The school has been honest with the parents that at times it has been difficult to find native speaker teachers with masters degrees in early education and immersion instruction. However, I think the school has been making efforts to make sure teachers are happy and to keep the lines of communication open between teachers and the administration should any issues come up. Any time I've needed to speak to a teacher or anyone in the administration, it has never been a problem. Choosing a school is a very important decision for any parent and it really depends on what your priorities are for your family/child. We've been through growing pains at HudsonWay over the years, but the bottom line is that I never doubted the school's ability to give my kids a good Chinese immersion education and my kids have made great friends, like their teachers and are happy at the school.
Submitted by other on February 26, 2016

My son has been attending the New York campus of this school for three years, starting at age 2. As a first-time parent enrolling my child in school, I wondered initially whether I had made the right decision. In my third year, and with some hindsight, I am very glad that I did not move him to another school. I could not be happier with HWIS, the administrative staff and especially the teachers. My son has benefited immensely from the close and nurturing attention that each of his teachers has given him since the day he started three years ago. His teachers communicate with me regularly about his development, any concerns they might have and proactive steps to support him. They seek my input and they offer theirs. They work cooperatively with me for the benefit of my son. I couldn't ask for more. Today he is thriving socially, academically and physically. When I toured other private schools in Manhattan before deciding to enroll my son at HWIS, I discovered that at most schools, the ratio of teachers to students (starting at the pre-K level) were approximately 1:8 or 1:9. At HWIS, it is 1:6 in the most crowded classroom. I firmly believe that this beneficial ratio, together with the great teaching staff, has been key in my son's social-emotional and academic advancement. My son is able to speak both Mandarin and English with a fluency in both that I will never have but more importantly, he is able to converse about substantive content (math, science, music, etc.) in both languages without losing a beat. He is five years old. He is happy at drop-off every day. He talks about the things the kids made that day, how they made them, the colors used, he talks about science - the system of pulleys they put together, he talks about his friends, the games they played, the stories the teachers read to them. He is excited about school. There was some turnover in staff 2 years ago shortly after the first director of the NY school resigned (for personal reasons) and some new hires either realized that they did not want to move to NYC (from the midwest) or did not work out. But the school replaced them with great people and it has been stable since then. The curriculum was revised but for the better.
Submitted by parent on February 12, 2016

Do your research before enrolling in this school. It was our worst mistake. At first, we thought they were just disorganized - administrative emails often had the wrong dates for teacher conferences, events, etc. Annoying, but no real harm done - except we had to reschedule things at work when they changed important dates at the last minute. But then we noticed that teachers keep leaving. Their explanation was that immersion teachers are in very high demand, but often teachers just revolved through their door every year, or even just a few months or even weeks. One director never showed up after supposedly signing on to 'lead' the school, another one left after a few weeks, and another admin left after barely 3 months. What is going on?? And then the worst of it. My child's preschool assistant teacher had to take a month off for medical reasons. Instead of hiring a temporary assistant for that month, our class had a different assistant teacher every day for weeks! And one of them was a male substitute teacher. One of the assistant teacher's tasks is to take the children to the restroom. These are really little kids; I was angry. Many of the other parents were very concerned as well. But the administration's response is, he is a qualified teacher and my concerns are unfounded. Excuse me?! Firstly, since when is a temporary substitute teacher more important than our children? He may very well be qualified, but stomping down preschooler parents' concern over this was a horrible slap in our faces. He may very well be qualified, but the administration did not address our concern at all. Perhaps this person would have done better at a middle or high school, or even elementary, but not a good idea for very young, vulnerable preschoolers! Furthermore, their upper grades (past K) dwindles.. I think there are only 1 or 2 students per grade in the 1st - 3rd grades? Obviously, people who have been at this school figured out, as we have, that they need to leave. Asap.
Submitted by parent on August 29, 2015

HudsonWay Immersion School, previously called Bilingual Buds, is a great school. We have been going there for the past 3 years, since pre-school and now to 1st-2nd grade, and have been happy with the school and grateful to have found a Chinese immersion program in the city, which is so rare. It is a wonderful school with a lovely group of parents, kids and teacher community. Everyone has different criteria's when it comes to school selection - and you have to find the type of school and environment that is right for you and your family. Ours was definately the bilingual/tri-lingual immersion at an early age. Our children have thrived at HudsonWay, and we have found a wonderful group of people here that our children have grown up with over the years. The HudsonWay Immersion School community is made up of families from all over the world and with different backgrounds, but all with common goals in mind in terms of exposing our children to the highest quality education, in small classroom sizes and with a great sense of community and a diverse group of globally minded people.The school's mission is to provide the most comprehensive and dynamic immersion education curriculum for students in Preschool - 5th grade that will enable them to grow into bilingual, bi-literate, and bi-cultural thinkers who can successfully navigate, impact and change the world.We can't say enough about how much we love this school and feel so lucky to be part of the HudsonWay Immersion School family!