Constance Billard-St. Jude's School is an exclusive private school that serves as the main location of Gossip Girl. Located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, it is the merger of two separate schools, the all-girls Constance Billard and its male counterpart, the all boys St. Jude.
The school follows students from grade K-12, offering a complete education for its students. Constance is notorious for its powerful alumni who go on to attend prestigious universities, Ivy League institutions, and maintain strong careers and reputations.
The current headmistress is Headmistress Burton.
Overview[]
Constance Billard St. Jude's is a prestigious, private institution that offers curriculum for students of all grade years, Although, it only showed high school area, it's able to hold elementary to Middle school age students.
Sometime in the mid 2010s, the building merged with St. Jude building. When the institutions merged their curriculums into one system and one larger school, the building itself underwent a massive physical remodeling and various reconstructions and renovations. The classrooms, hallways, and library were given a modern update as well as the bathroom facilities, and the inner courtyard is surrounded by wall-length windows as opposed to obscure stone walls. An outer courtyard and outside seating places were additionally added, eliminating the previous back entrances and former co-ed courtyard.
2007 Series[]
Serena, Blair, and Jenny attend Constance at differing grade levels. The school is mainly shown in the first and second seasons. In "The Goodbye Gossip Girl", Blair and Serena, along with Blair's minions, graduate from Constance. Jenny has her junior year in season three but transfers out of the school in "Last Tango, Then Paris" to attend a public school in Hudson, New York for her senior year. After the core groups graduation, the school is largely absent from the series until fundraiser events held in "Shattered Bass" and "The Wrong Goodbye". In season 6, It's revealed that Sage is attending the school for her junior year.
St. Jude's School for Boys is mainly shown in seasons one and two as Dan, Chuck, Nate, and Eric attend the school. During the "The Goodbye Gossip Girl", Dan, Chuck, and Nate graduate from St. Jude's in a shared ceremony with the Constance graduates. Eric continues attendance throughout season three, but mentions in "The Wrong Goodbye" that he's glad to be nearing his graduation date. In the second and third season, Eric dates Jonathan Whitney who also attends St. Jude's.
2021 Series[]
New logo
The school has merged with St. Jude's, with the two schools being one large institution as opposed to two separate ones. Julien Calloway gives her half-sister and recent transfer, Zoya Lott, the run down of the history of the school. She explains that it used to be its own building, though the boys still act as though it is theirs. The only places the two mix is out front or in the courtyard. When Gossip Girl makes her return, the school hires black cube agents to find the person behind the account. When Zoya learns her scholarship is being funded by her half-sister's father, Davis Calloway, she is placed on thin-ice with Head Mistress Queller. Her scholarship is put in jeopardy over her sinking grades and ultimately pulled after Davis's sexual assault allegations force the school to reject his financial support. The school also has many sport classes, such as cross country, wrestling and basketball in which Obie Bergmann IV and Aki Menzies are members.
Notable Alumni[]
Class of 2009[]
The followings students graduated from Constance Billard School for Girls prior to the schools merging with St. Jude's.
- Blair Waldorf
- Serena van der Woodsen
- Isabel Coates
- Penelope Shafai
- Hazel Williams
- Nelly Yuki
- Rebecca Sherman
- Katia "Kati" Farkas (departed, Spring 2008)
- Georgina Sparks (departed, prior to Fall 2007)
The following students graduated from St. Jude's School for Boys prior to the school merging with Constance Billard.
Class of 2011[]
The followings students graduated from Constance Billard School for Girls prior to the schools merging with St. Jude's.
- Jennifer "Jenny" Humphrey (departed, Summer 2010)
- Carmen Fortier
- Sawyer Bennett
- Kira Abernathy
- Jane Cordelia Trapp
- Heidi Bergmann
The following students graduated from St. Jude's School for Boys prior to the school merging with Constance Billard.
- Eric van der Woodsen
- Jonathan Whitney
- Ken Tuckket
Class of 2013[]
Class of 2023[]
Class of 2025[]
Class of 2026[]
Others[]
- Cecily von Ziegesar (introduced as alumni at the party in The Wrong Goodbye)
Staff[]
Current[]
- Headmistress Burton (Currently Suspended)
- Kate Keller (English Teacher) (formerly) (in jail)
- Jordan Glassberg (Computer Science Teacher)
- Wendy (Administrator)
- Linda Schachter
- Henry Schachter
- Libby (Librarian)
Former[]
- Headmistress Queller (Former Constance Headmistress)
- Mr. Prescott (Former St. Jude's Headmaster)
- Mr. Peiser (Chemistry Teacher)
- Rachel Carr
- Martine
- Rima (Fired for being "Gossip Girl")
- Rafa Caparros (Classics Teacher) (Resigned)
Trivia[]
- The exterior filming location for Constance is The Museum of the City of New York. The school itself is based on The Nightingale-Bamford School, an all girl's school in which Cecily von Ziegesar attended herself. It is also a private school located on the Upper East Side, with 100% of graduating students attending universities.
- The address of the school is said to be 719 East 82nd Street, Manhattan, NYC, NY, 10028 (School Lies).
- The school has an annual senior play as a part of credit for graduation (The Age of Dissonance).
- The first time the school had chosen a "Prom King & Queen" was in 2009 and the winners were Nate Archibald and Blair Waldorf (Valley Girls).
- Davis Calloway underwrites the arts scholarship at the school. (She's Having a Maybe)