| PS 295 is distinctive in so many ways. Most importantly PS 295 is a community that embraces diversity by nurturing strengths and talents to educate the whole child socially, academically, culturally and artistically through differentiation of instruction. In recognizing that all children learn in different ways, we believe that an arts integrated curriculum cultivates a more meaningful discovery of self, enhances prior knowledge, supports content and language development and encourages a strong respect and appreciation for the arts. Through collaboration and communication, each member of the PS295 community feels supported and encouraged to take risks, share ideas and become an active participant in their own learning. Strengthened by the commitment of our parent community, we value parent participation and are dedicated to developing a strong partnership between home and school. Our strong professional development program provides ongoing learning and leadership opportunities for all staff members. This faculty program, in addition to our parent workshops and classes, offers students an exemplar for becoming lifelong learners and leaders of the future.
Our school community has worked diligently to align the classroom curriculum with the arts disciplines. All art forms are taught by artists who are full time staff members working collaboratively with grade teachers. Additionally, we are “collaborative communities of practice” in both math and literacy: We provide opportunities for schools in and out of the region to visit, observe and take part in our learning journey. The staff truly believes they are active learners and that teaching is a lifelong process. All teachers are empowered and have opportunities to lead, plan, revise and reflect. This occurs during common grade planning meetings, faculty conferences and committee meetings.
PS 295 offers a unique professional development program that targets specific strategies for teaching students with special needs. Each month a team of all service providers and Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) teams convene to learn about a topic of interest or need. We also schedule time for Service Provider Conferences which give teachers the opportunity to discuss the progress of students receiving special services. Our CARE team, composed of service providers, administration and our academic intervention teacher, supports teachers and staff with special needs students as well. The team’s goal is to brainstorm strategies for classroom teachers to move struggling students toward standards.
We are guided by a strong belief that all children possess different gifts. We support this vision with the School-Wide Enrichment Model. All K-5 students rotate cycles, studying a topic more deeply and reaching out to the community to share or gain knowledge.
While we continue to take on new challenges each year, our main priority is to preserve the uniqueness of PS 295 by fulfilling our vision to nurture the strengths and talents of each and every child.
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