Maurice Sendak Community School

We absolutely love PS 118! Our child grows leaps and bounds academically and socially year after year, the teachers have been warm and communicative, and the small-school community is the perfect complement to the city's abundant resources. The PTA works incredibly hard to add to the school's offerings and ensure teachers have what they need to provide an excellent learning experience for our children, from extracurriculars to field trip funds to small tech grants. There is also an after-school program on site, which is incredibly helpful for working parents.

We love our small community school. My daughters have excelled academically and socially. The teachers are INCREDIBLE- I would describe them as caring, compassionate, intelligent, kind and engaging. The school has a hard working PTA and parent body who fund dance residencies, art programs, teaching aids, a hydroponics lab, and community events like movie nights, carnivals and a valentines day dance.

We moved to park slope for this school pre-pandemic. We heard such wonderful things. Our experience has been OK because we have an intelligent and self—directed child. With that said I have heard terrible stories from families with learning-disabled children. This is not the place to go if you feel your child may need an even a little extra support or intervention. Across multiple years the teachers have been great, very caring. The nurse and parent coordinator are wonderful, caring people. The administration leaves a lot to be desired. The principal recently finished getting her PhD, which is probably why she’s been so out of touch. Sending out an email letting us all know about it, while one of the chief complaints is lack of engagement from administrators, really showed a lack of judgment and how out of touch the administration is with how unhappy some parents are. Certainly, good for her on such an accomplishment. But the messaging was so ill-timed. As one example of dysfunction: the “gym class” is run by the librarian and they often watch videos. Really hoping the admin pulls it together next year. We’d love to stay. But if our child’s class size stay in the low 30s, and if there’s no effort from the admin to listen to concerns about size and other issues, this may need to be our last year. At one recent meeting the administration’s response to the fact that the second grade class has over 30 children and will likely stay that way into at least the third grade was in sum and substance that the parents and kids in that cohort need to take one for the team, possibly all the way through 5th grade; that this single large class would be in the service of the long-term health of the school. This was a really unacceptable position. No parent is going to prioritize the long-term vitality of the school over the quality of education for their individual child and it’s really inappropriate to ask that of us. It’s also a unwise position to take where so many parents have the means to place their children elsewhere.

We are big fans of PS 118! We have a graduate and a current student who both have had a great experience at the school. If you are looking for a caring and supportive school environment with lots of individual attention, PS 118 is the right choice! Excellent, loving teachers and a great curriculum that teaches kids about social justice and both challenges and supports them as needed. Whether you have a quiet brainy kid who needs extra challenging work or a social butterfly who needs some help focusing in class, your child's individual needs will be recognized (speaking from experience).The focus on collaboration and socioemotional learning is really strong, and both of our kids have had a great set of friends and tons of school spirit. The staff know each kid well due to the small school size, which makes the kids feel so comfortable. The school has some really special things, like an outdoor garden, a dedicated science teacher and a hydroponics lab in which the kids learn to grow and eat all sorts of things and also share their harvest with a local food pantry. Our kids have also loved the enrichment classes: Spanish, chess, engineering, drama, art and music.The parent community is wonderful and welcoming and there are loads of fun social events for families. You will feel a part of a very caring and fun group of families and teachers, which has been a highlight for us. Last but not least, there is an awesome on-site afterschool program that is highly attended and builds a great sense of community for the kids, with enrichment classes where they do things like digital animation, photography, engineering, gardening, and comedy improv and plays. The PTA is great about making scholarships available so that all kids can join in all extracurricular activities. We feel so lucky to be part of PS 118 and highly recommend it!

I have 2 children at the school and have overall been happy with their experience here. They are happy and enjoy going to school. It’s a small school where the faculty and staff knows everyone. During normal times, there are many field trips to complement the in person learning. Been impressed with my 5th grader’s social studies curriculum. These kids today are learning more than I did and often are eager to educate me about a new historical figure they read about or show a new math problem. Some teachers are better than others with providing insight about the curriculum. For example, there are teachers who provide weekly emails to parents that describe what the kids learned during the week. Very helpful since it’s a no homework school. Parent community is fairly active which makes for a nice overall community. They volunteer for field trips and to organize community events (e.g., talent show, auction, school fairs, meet the author programs). Our family does feel apart of this community which is nice in a big city. It’s a place where kids and parents can make life long friends. A negative is that I’ve heard mixed things about IEP support. My kids don’t have one but I know it’s a key issue for families so wanted to put it out there. I did speak with one mom who I had a positive experience with IEP support, but a few others didn’t have a positive experience.