What Kind of School Is BFS?
A School Built Around Children & Community
Brooklyn Free Space is a cooperative preschool in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where children ages 2–5 learn, play, create, and grow within a warm and connected community.
At BFS, children, families, teachers, and administrators all contribute to the life of the school. Our cooperative model creates meaningful connections between home and school and reflects a belief that children thrive when the adults who care for them work together.
Our classrooms are joyful, engaging spaces where children are encouraged to follow their curiosity, build relationships, express their ideas, and discover the world around them.
🌱 Our Philosophy
We believe children are curious, capable learners who learn best through play, relationships, exploration, and meaningful experiences.
Our play-based, Reggio Emilia–inspired approach begins with the interests, questions, and ideas children bring into the classroom. Teachers observe closely, listen carefully, and thoughtfully introduce materials and experiences that invite children to investigate, experiment, create, collaborate, and deepen their thinking.
While children develop in recognizable ways, each child brings their own personality, interests, strengths, experiences, and ways of learning and expressing themselves. We meet children where they are and support their growth while honoring who they are becoming.
🤝 Learning in Relationship
Learning at BFS happens in relationship—with friends, teachers, families, materials, and the world around us.
Children learn to communicate their needs, listen to others, navigate conflicts, collaborate, solve problems, take increasing responsibility, and experience what it means to be part of a community.
Teachers are partners in this process. They see themselves as co-learners and co-researchers with children and continually reflect on their practice through observation, collaboration, and professional development.
🎨 Many Ways to Learn & Express Ideas
Children communicate and make meaning in many ways—through words, movement, drawing, painting, building, music, dramatic play, storytelling, and more.
Inspired by the Reggio Emilia concept of the “hundred languages of children,” our classrooms offer children many opportunities to explore ideas and express their thinking. We value the process of experimenting, wondering, revising, and discovering rather than focusing simply on a finished product.
The result is an environment where learning grows from children's curiosity and teachers help give those ideas room to develop.
🏡 A Cooperative Community
Family involvement has been at the heart of Brooklyn Free Space since its beginning.
As a cooperative preschool, BFS invites families to contribute their time, perspectives, skills, and ideas to the life of the school. This partnership helps build a bridge between home and school and allows children to see their families as active members of their school community.
Families and educators bring different knowledge and experiences to that partnership. By learning from one another, we create a richer and more connected community for our children.
🌎 Belonging at BFS
We believe children benefit from learning in a community that reflects the diversity of Brooklyn and the wider world. BFS values diversity across race, ethnicity, culture, language, economic background, gender, family structure, ability, and lived experience. We strive to create an environment where children and families feel welcomed, represented, respected, and a meaningful part of the community.
In the classroom, teachers thoughtfully select books, materials, experiences, and conversations that reflect a wide range of people, families, cultures, and experiences. Children are encouraged to notice differences, ask questions, challenge stereotypes, and develop respect for themselves and others.
Creating a community of belonging is ongoing work, and one we believe belongs at the heart of early childhood education.