Who We Are

Our Story

The Brooklyn Kindergarten Society (BKS) is the original “born in Brooklyn”. We were founded in 1891, and for 130 years, BKS has helped provide high-quality early childhood education to working families. BKS has grown up with the borough and continues to be a leader in equal access to high quality early childhood education. BKS sees its mission as providing an equal first educational step to some of our borough’s youngest learners.

BKS, originally the Brooklyn Free Kindergarten Association, worked to provide kindergarten to immigrant communities primarily from Eastern Europe and Ireland. In addition to supporting the direct education of children, BKS also promoted the professional development of teachers by supporting teacher training positions at various BKS run kindergartens. These positions helped to lift women out of poverty and provide them with opportunities to make a living outside of the home.

Today, BKS continues to chart its own course in supporting our earliest learners and continues to serve communities who have been traditionally underserved. We have expanded to seven Children’s Centers, each located in NYCHA housing, and each center serving the unique needs of its students and families. Located in the neighborhoods of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Crown Heights, all area students ages 2 to 5 years old are welcome to apply to BKS. Our staff and students represent the diversity of Brooklyn. We offer a creative curriculum that marries together reading and writing with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) learning. Our Music & Movement Program brings tennis, violin, and dance lessons into our centers.

 

Mission & Vision

Mission:
Brooklyn Kindergarten Society provides high-quality early childhood education and family support services, ensuring that children develop the social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

Vision of Excellence:
BKS offers children play based learning grounded in

  • Science
  • Technology
  • Engineering
  • Arts
  • Mathematics

Children at BKS receive equitable educational experiences that allow them to develop a strong sense of character, cultural identity, and critical academic skills.

Our Approach

Brooklyn Kindergarten Society is committed to nurturing our earliest learners to ensure that they reach their absolute potential. BKS works in partnership with our families to be the stewards of passion, dedication, inspiration and so much more.

We believe that an equal first educational footing is essential to a child’s ability to grow and adapt. Educational disparities at an early age can impact achievement, graduation, earnings, and opportunities for a child’s lifetime. Providing an equal first educational step means children of color have just one less obstacle to “overcome” as they grow. BKS is not naïve enough to think that a child’s education is divorced from the rest of their life or their communities, which is why BKS works to support and engage our families, as well as provide career development for our staff. Our goal is to foster the following strategic priorities within the BKS community:

High Quality Outcomes for All Children
Strong Relationships with Parents and our Community
Cultivation of an Adult Culture of Learning and Inquiry

To that end, we look to serve more students in our neighborhoods, shift away from a childcare model to a solid teaching model, and provide more comprehensive services (in staffing and external partnerships) both for our students and their families to not only address hardships caused by COVID-19, but to work on larger issues of economic insecurity, economic mobility, educational attainment, and structural racism within education. We also seek to continue expanding our enrichment programs, including music and language programs, deepening our STEAM curriculum, and fully realizing the possibilities of our new, state-of-the-art Sensory Gym.

BKS is where Brooklyn Kids Succeed!