2017-2018 Blackboard Award Honoree: Principal Janet C. Rotter

Outstanding Principal

The Studio School
Principal: Janet C. Rotter
Preschool through Middle School
117 West 95th Street
studioschoolnyc.org

Describe your school’s core educational philosophy.

The Studio School educates the hearts and minds of children as we nurture the unfolding of their authentic spirit and character. Central to our philosophy is the knowledge that intellectual vigor and creativity must be firmly rooted in emotional balance and resilience. These roots need careful nurturing in the earliest stages of a child’s life and education, allowing time and room to grow strong and spread wide.

Tell us about a few of the school’s achievements or distinguishing programs.

The Studio School is one of two New York City schools to be named in the 50 Best Private Elementary Schools in the nation by The Best Schools. We have designed the following unique classes: In our interdisciplinary One World classes, science, social science, history, and geography are presented through a varied curriculum. Students learn unifying concepts to more fully understand how everything in our world is connected. Our Kitchen Science program was featured on ABC’s “The Chew.” Along with culinary arts, students learn nutrition, the cultural origin of dishes, how foods are grown, how to convert measurements in recipes, and the chemical properties of food. Tutorial, a weekly class for elementary and middle school students, addresses the importance of character, as well as intellect, and sharpens students’ critical, analytical, and abstract thinking skills.

What’s new?

Emotional-social education is taking its place as a significant and essential criterion in the academic success of students, and their ability to be original thinkers, as well as their well-being. The Studio School has cultivated ways of demonstrating this through its innovative curriculum and our practices and approach are now being recognized through research and workshops around the world.

What do you love about your school?

I love the art and science of teaching and learning, and the excitement of the process that I share with the children, their teachers, and parents each day. Knowing how important the entire community is to the quality and success of a school, and ours is continually energized by the meaningful connections made between students, parents, teachers, and staff. I am proud to see our students graduate as self-motivated people who exceed all standards set for them and demonstrate that how they live their lives is the essence of what they have learned.

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

Congregation Beth Elohim Early Childhood Center

A progressive preschool that nurtures childrens&rsquo; natural curiosity, critical thinking and self-esteem through an emergent curriculum developed by direct observation of childrens&rsquo; play and interactions with the world around them.

Xaverian High School

A private, co-educational Catholic college preparatory school for grades 6&ndash;12 located in Bay Ridge. Giving students the opportunity to grow in their faith, intellect, leadership skills, musical passions, athletic talents, and much more, in the long standing tradition of the Xaverian Brothers.