At a Glance
A small Catholic elementary tucked into the South Bronx, where faith, rigor, and personal attention share the classroom.
Best suited for
Bronx families — Catholic or otherwise — who want a small, affordable, faith-based elementary education where their child will not get lost in the crowd.
What stands out
- With roughly 140 students and an 8.4-to-1 student-teacher ratio, this is a notably small school where teachers realistically know each child by name.
- Flat tuition of $14,646 puts St Anselm well below the typical NYC private elementary, an unusual affordability for an Archdiocese-accredited Catholic school.
- The curriculum explicitly bundles Catholic faith, critical thinking, and technology responsibility — a modernized framing of a traditional parochial education.
- Service learning is built into the mission rather than tacked on as an afterthought, giving students a structured outlet for community engagement.
- Three subway lines within a 7-minute walk make drop-off commutes manageable from across the Bronx and into Manhattan.
Things to consider
- As a Catholic school, faith formation is part of the daily curriculum and required sacramental preparation; families should be comfortable with that.
- The school tops out at 5th grade, so a middle school search begins immediately after — worth thinking about three years in.
- Parent reviews are mixed (3.7 out of 5): praise for caring teachers and rigor is balanced by concerns about organization and leadership stability.
- The neighborhood itself is among the lower-income parts of the Bronx, which is context worth knowing for families coming from elsewhere.
Identity
St Anselm is a coeducational, Roman Catholic elementary school serving PreK through 5th grade, anchored in the Archdiocese of New York. Its mission pairs Catholic faith formation with academic rigor, critical thinking, and service to others. The school frames itself around three habits: thinking critically, acting with integrity, and serving with compassion.
Community
The student body reflects a genuinely diverse mix: Black students make up about 37%, White students about 42%, with Hispanic, Asian, multiracial, and Native American students rounding out the rest. No single group dominates, which gives the school a varied, working-class South Bronx character rather than the look of a homogeneous parochial school.
Neighborhood
Melrose is a tightly packed South Bronx neighborhood where median household income sits just above $30,000 and a sizable share of households live below the poverty line. Adult educational attainment in the area is lower than the citywide average, and the school is woven into a community where families often navigate economic pressure. The streets here are dense with residential blocks, small churches, and long-standing neighborhood institutions.
The school is genuinely commuter-friendly: Jackson Avenue (2 and 5 trains) is about a 3-minute walk, E 149th Street (6 train) about 6 minutes, and Prospect Avenue (2 and 5) about 7 minutes on foot.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
Mixed reviews rate the school 3.7/5 from 14 reviews. Positive mentions of caring teachers, rigorous academics, and safe environment. Some concerns about organizational issues and leadership.
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is ST ANSELM SCHOOL a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for ST ANSELM SCHOOL yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades Pre-K to 5 in Melrose.
- What grades does ST ANSELM SCHOOL serve?
- ST ANSELM SCHOOL serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into ST ANSELM SCHOOL?
- ST ANSELM SCHOOL runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is ST ANSELM SCHOOL public, charter, or private?
- ST ANSELM SCHOOL is a private school.
- What neighborhood is ST ANSELM SCHOOL in?
- ST ANSELM SCHOOL is in Melrose, Bronx.