The William Woodward, Jr. Nursery School is a private, independent nursery school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Originally, Woodward was a cooperative that had been formed and run by a group of parents who were affiliated with New York Hospital. It was founded as a private nursery school in 1961, when Mrs. William Woodward made an endowment to New York Hospital through The Woodward Charitable Foundation. The endowment was made in honor of Mrs. Woodward's late son.

Mrs. Woodward's early vision was to provide for a permanent space where the school could run to serve the children of the "house staff" of the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. This mission gradually expanded to include Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), and the neighborhood community. Over time, the school has been familiarly nicknamed "Woodward."

Woodward is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, licensed by the New York City Department of Health and is a member of the Independent schools Admissions Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY).