About Us

The Administration for Children Services selected the Division of Continuing Education at Bank Street College of Education as one of 75 delegate agencies in New York City to operate Head Start programs. Bank Street Head Start (BSHS) is located on the first and second floors of the Genesis-Robert F. Kennedy Apartments at 113 East 13th Street, a building that is owned by HELP-USA, a national non-profit organization whose mission is to help those who are homeless and others in need to become and remain self-reliant. Bank Street Head Start empowers and educates low-income families and their children through comprehensive, high quality services. We build long-term relationships and provide a range of individualized support in the areas of early childhood education; medical, dental, and mental health; nutrition; and social services. Bank Street currently serves 60 children in four Preschool classrooms.

Our Philosophy

In Bank Street Head Start’s classrooms young children learn by experimenting and exploring materials and resources. Teachers encourage children to make discoveries and provide children with enough time to “make meaning” of those experiences. Much of the time, children collaborate with each other and share individual experiences, such as discussing a story they have heard or a play experience they have had.

Our philosophy provides for:

Experiential education: carefully designed and executed education experiences that are reconstructed and reflected upon in a variety of ways through talking, drawing, building and acting;

Constructivism: the idea that a child makes discoveries from observations, explorations, experiences and uses all these to construct understanding. Constructivists say that the child is "the maker of meaning;"

Ownership of learning: because children are directly involved with the environment and with various learning experiences, they will feel more invested and more excited about learning;

Relationship building: continuity of care for two years with the same teachers allows children to build deep trusting relationships with their teachers and their peers.

Children with Special Needs

Children of all abilities are enrolled in our classrooms. Our building, bathrooms, classrooms and outside play spaces are fully accessible. All children participate fully in the program with the assistance of staff trained to support inclusive educational programming. Teachers individualize activities to meet each child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive needs.

Some children with special needs have been identified prior to enrollment in the Bank Street Head Start program. Some children come to us from referrals from other agencies, others may come because of a referral from their physician.

Head Start Performance Standards require that all children have a developmental and behavioral screening within 45 days of enrollment. If this suggests a concern about a child’s developmental and/or behavioral skills, teachers will pay special attention to these areas in their routine observations and talk with parents if they believe a professional evaluation would be appropriate.

If additional individual services are recommended, children may receive these at Bank Street Head Start or at home. These services might include speech therapy, physical therapy, play therapy, occupational therapy or the support of a Special Education Itinerate Teacher (SEIT). Service providers communicate regularly with families, teachers and the Special Needs Coordinator to build on the therapists work and to ensure that each child receives consistent support.

For children that are identified as having a special need after they enroll with us, the process of identification includes the initial developmental screening, teacher observations and educational assessment. Children who have a suspected special need are referred for a professional evaluation by an appropriate provider.

Parent Involvement

Bank Street Head Start views curriculum as the interaction of children with their total environment, which includes other children, adults, and materials. In light of this definition, parents are involved in their child’s educational curriculum from the moment of their child’s birth. Bank Street Head Start is thus naturally joined together with parents as partners in their child’s growth and development. This partnership allows everyone involved to:

Capitalize upon the parents’ skills and understandings regarding their child;

Provide opportunities for parents to become more aware of the skills they already have and to make available various learning situations to assist in enhancing those skills and;

Provide meaningful community building (school and family) experiences.

Health and Nutrition

At Bank Street Head Start, children receive breakfast, lunch, and snack every day. All meals are prepared fresh on-site daily in our kitchen. A professional nutritionist supervises the development of the menus and all food activities of the program.

Bank Street Head Start recognizes the importance of providing mental health and psychological services. A mental health professional is available to provide training to staff and parents, and also offers services to children. Upon enrollment Bank Street Head Start provides each child with a free dental and developmental screenings. Through partnerships with local health care providers, Bank Street Head Start is often able to provide each child with a free vision and hearing screening as well. All children must receive a complete medical examination prior to enrollment.