PROGRAMS

Our program runs from 9am to 2pm, five days a week, and follows the New York City public schools calendar. We have a flexible schedule. Parents may choose from a variety of attendance options for their children, with the following general guidelines:

Young twos
Tues, Thurs, 9am - 12pm

Older twos and young threes
Mon-Wed-Fri, 9am - 12pm or 9am - 2pm

Older threes and fours
Mon-Fri, 9am -12pm or 9am - 2pm
 

SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY

We develop our curriculum to enable children to learn to communicate, cooperate, problem solve, respect, and celebrate differences. We want the children in our program to discover how to learn. At Downing Street preschool children are instilled with the sense of being important, competent, wonderful and loved human beings.

At Downing Street children learn to socialize with their peers, have fun, and express themselves through creativity and the arts. They are encouraged to voice their own feelings and opinions, as well as to respect the feelings and rights of others. As the children learn more self-help skills, their self-esteem and sense of personal responsibility grow. Sharing their own experiences and observa-tions, as well as listening to those of others, helps children become active members of their school community.

We teach through a non-biased, experiential, developmentally appropriate, constructive and theme-based curriculum through which children's cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs are met. Themes might include music, family, pets, seasons, our neighborhood and the environment. Activities in the classroom include: arts, music, block building, dramatic play, cooking, sand and water play,puzzle making, game playing, free and structured physical activity, reading, and going on local field trips. We offer a language-based program that is intended to meet the needs of the individual child within the group context.

Parent participation is an integral part of our program of Downing Street. Our aim is to create a nurturing environment in which everyone supports and is supported by everyone else. We focus on learning as something to be enjoyed, valued, and shared.

ADMISSIONS

Admissions are primarily on a first come, first served basis.  Final decisions will be made by the registrars and teachers to ensure a balanced, cohesive group of children.  Preference is given to children with siblings that have already attended the school, and to children who live in Greenwich Village.  Children must be between the ages of 2 and 4.

For more about the admissions process, please go to the Admissions page (click here).

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