cooke center Lower School
The Cooke Center Lower School gives children with special needs the dual benefits of a warm, intensive, highly structured education and the opportunity to learn among their typically developing peers.
Cooke's Lower School classrooms are located in our general education partner schools in Manhattan, where our students are welcomed as an integral part of the school community.
The Lower School educates children with mild-to-moderate cognitive or developmental disabilities and severe language-based learning disabilities. Students are admitted to the Lower School between the ages of 5 and 11. They learn in self-contained classes of eight to 12 students, and are grouped into classrooms according to age and ability level.
IN THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND
Instruction
Small-group learning and differentiated instruction allow teachers to support students' strengths and interests. Related services like speech and language therapy, counseling, occupational therapy, and physical therapy are integrated into classroom learning, with all staff working together to help students meet their goals.
- Academics: grounded in the NYS Standards for Learning and best practices in special education
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: developing appropriate solutions in real-world contexts
- Social Skills: making friends and developing self-awareness and interpersonal relationships
- Emotional Health: learning to share and respect others, developing self-confidence, and learning to engage in responsible personal behavior
- Physical Education and Movement: developing motor skills, coordination and team spirit
- The Arts: developing an appreciation of visual and performing arts
- Technology: using print and electronic media
Off-site Education and Community Service
Classroom instruction is enhanced with trips to New York's museums, parks and other community institutions, where students can advance their academic, social, and emotional goals in real-world contexts.
Early exposure to service learning focuses on giving back to the community. Students participate in food drives, penny harvests, and other charitable activities that benefit the communities of their choosing. The program emphasizes academic enrichment, positive civic attitude and behaviors, enhanced social and personal skills, higher order thinking skills, and developing a stronger connection to school, community, and society. Community Service is linked to the science and social studies curricula.
Inclusive opportunities
Cooke students participate in a wide array of inclusive educational opportunities within the partner school's general education community, with varying degrees of modifications and support.
They range from supported inclusion in lunch, special subjects such as arts and music, physical education, concerts, field trips, and after-school programs. When appropriate, and with in-classroom support from Cooke staff, some students study academic subjects in general-education classrooms.
Staff
Cooke classroom are staffed with head teachers, assistant teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers who collaborate to provide an individual, comprehensive education for each student.
Facilities
Our classrooms are housed within three general education partner schools in Manhattan, all located close to mass transit: Corpus Christi School on W. 121st Street; Our Lady of Pompeii School on Bleecker Street; and School of the Ascension on W. 108th Street. Our facilities include spacious classrooms and private and small-group therapy spaces. In addition, our local communities are home to many cultural organizations and community resources that provide a "living classroom" in which our students engage with highly structured staff guidance and support.
Cooke Lower School students often go on to Cooke's Middle School, where the same Cooke philosophy, instructional methods and even some of the same staff allow for a seamless transition.
Please visit our admissions page for information on applying to the Lower School.
