Our History
The Brooklyn New School (BNS), PS 146, was founded in 1987 by a committee of families and teachers who wanted to create a school with a racial, ethnic and economic balance, where children engage in active learning, where children of different skill levels work together and where families are involved in their child’s education.
We are located at 610 Henry Street in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. We have 26 classes, pre-K through fifth grade, with a current enrollment of approximately 685 children. BNS shares the building with our sister school, The Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, serving grades 6-12.
Our Values
We are committed to academic and personal success for all students. We believe that children are creators of meaning in their own lives. They are naturally thoughtful and curious, and they work to gain understanding of the world they inhabit. When the adults who care for children foster this effort, children become life-long learners.
We are a diverse community and our instruction is experiential and hands on with a standards based curriculum that also focuses on children’s individual needs. Adults model life-long learning by engaging in ongoing professional development and our governance structure assures collaboration among families, staff and administration.
BNS Affinity Groups
Helping Environment Team (HET)
Disability Awareness Club (DAC)
Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
Adoption Group
Conversations of Color
Our Approach
Our students are active thinkers and doers. Math, science, social studies, art and music are integrated in hands-on exploration. Children study the city, the environment, history and culture. They learn to ask questions, use tools to measure, make estimates and draw conclusions about what they see and feel. Children learn their ties to other people, to the past and to the future.
They become stronger readers and writers by using reading and writing as tools to carry out their investigations. Our inquiry based curriculum enables students to problem solve and to effect change. They apply knowledge gained in school to real life situations. Students develop projects with teachers in and outside of the classroom. We are committed to education which stresses cooperation rather than competition.
Classes are not tracked and there is no gifted program. There are many integrated co-teaching (ICT) classes. A resource room teacher, speech and language teachers, occupational therapists and guidance professionals are available to meet special learning and social needs.
BNS Leadership Team
We are excited to introduce ourselves, Diane Castelucci and Malika Johnson-Willis, as the BNS leadership team. We have been very much a part of the BNS community for 24 combined years. We see this transition as a landmark for several reasons. Having worked as co-teachers, and now as school administrators, we are here together at the end of an 8 year succession plan to bring BNS into its next chapter. We are proud to continue a long BNS tradition of penning a weekly letter to the entire school community.
Diane can be reached at diane@bns146.org and Malika can be reached at malika@bns146.org.
