At a Glance
A Jesuit Nativity middle school in the South Bronx, built around Cura Personalis and year-round support for the whole child.
Best suited for
A working-class South Bronx family seeking an intimate, faith-based middle school with intensive academic support and long-term mentoring — particularly a child who would thrive with extended instructional time, close teacher relationships, and structured summer programming.
What stands out
- Operates under the Nativity School model — a network of Jesuit middle schools nationally designed specifically for students from underserved communities.
- Runs an 11-month extended day program, providing significantly more instructional time than a typical school year.
- Includes a Graduate Support Program that follows students through high school selection, college application, and beyond.
- Offers a Summer Leadership Program that includes a five-week sleepaway camp experience — a rare offering among city middle schools.
- Very small student body of 76 with an 8.4:1 student-teacher ratio, allowing for highly personalized attention.
Things to consider
- Only serves grades 6-8, so families will need to plan a high school transition (the Graduate Support Program is specifically designed to help with this).
- Parent review ratings are mixed and drawn from a limited sample, making it harder to gauge the day-to-day experience.
- The student body is intentionally reflective of the surrounding community rather than broadly diverse, which may not suit families seeking a more varied peer environment.
- The 9-14 minute walk to the nearest subway may be challenging for families commuting by public transit from outside the neighborhood.
- Daily life is shaped by Catholic/Jesuit tradition and the Cura Personalis framework, so families should be comfortable with a faith-based orientation.
Identity
St Ignatius is a Jesuit Catholic middle school (grades 6-8) operating under the Nativity School model, a Jesuit-developed approach that provides intensive, holistic education to students from low-income communities. Its philosophy centers on Cura Personalis — care for the whole person across academic, spiritual, social, physical, and emotional dimensions — and is grounded in the Jesuit tradition of forming "men and women for and with others." The school is coeducational and serves as an elementary-level (middle school) program with deep roots in its local community.
Community
With only 76 students, St Ignatius is a tight-knit middle school whose demographics closely mirror the surrounding Hunts Point neighborhood. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (94.7%) with a small Black enrollment (5.3%), reflecting the school's mission to serve local South Bronx families. The intimate size means every student is well known by staff, and families often form lasting connections across the three middle-school years.
Neighborhood
St Ignatius sits in Hunts Point, a working-class South Bronx neighborhood where median household income is around $38,841 and roughly 30% of residents live below the poverty line. The area has a strong sense of community identity and a predominantly Hispanic population, with the school serving as a stable anchor for local families seeking faith-based, supportive education for their middle-schoolers.
The school is about a 9-minute walk from either the Hunts Point Av or Longwood Av stops on the 6 train, and roughly 14 minutes from Simpson St on the 2 and 5 lines.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
Mixed ratings: 6.3/10 and 5.0/10; noted for small class sizes (8.4:1 ratio) and close-knit community; limited parent reviews available
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades 6 to 8 in Hunts Point.
- What grades does ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL serve?
- ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL?
- ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL public, charter, or private?
- ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL is a private school.
- What neighborhood is ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL in?
- ST IGNATIUS SCHOOL is in Hunts Point, Bronx.