Bank Street School for Children

The school day

Fundations in the morning, the Hudson River in second grade

Bank Street educates 414 coed students from preschool through grade 8 in one Morningside Heights building. The approach is developmental-interaction: teachers choose materials, ask questions, observe closely, introduce content, and adjust the task as children work.

Learning happens through materials, ideas, and people, keeping social, emotional, and intellectual growth connected. The overall ratio is about 6:1, reflecting total staffing rather than a class-size guarantee.

Daily life starts concrete and widens with age: Kindergarten begins the morning with Fundations and heads home at 1:00 p.m. on Friday on the July 2024 sample schedule; second grade traces the Hudson River from the “here and now” toward “far away and long ago”; seventh grade begins a two-year algebra sequence.

When eighth grade ends, every family chooses another school.

Applying

Applying for Fall 2027

The Fall 2027 application costs $75 and closes December 1, 2026. Families may apply to any grade, though an open grade is not necessarily an expanding one.

Kindergarten is the main elementary entry; grade 5 is the later structural intake, where Upper School begins. Grade 6 is the second year of that division rather than a fresh cohort, though grades 5 through 8 share one admissions pathway and open houses cover all grades, including a Kindergarten event in fall 2026.

A Lower School note still cites limited Kindergarten space for 2026–27.

Grades are named for the age children reach during the year: preschool is the 3/4s, pre-K the 4/5s, Kindergarten the 5/6s, grade 1 the 6/7s, up through grade 8, the 13/14s. The cutoff is September 1; a Fall 2027 kindergartner must be five by September 1, 2027.

The labels describe age cohorts; the site does not say that classrooms are mixed-age.

Parent interviews are virtual, while child visits are in person. Once you apply, you can book an hour-long tour on a school day.

The school describes an open house as an important step. School reports, recommendations, and supplemental materials are due January 8, 2027.

Financial-aid applications open November 1, 2026 and close January 1, 2027.

Kindergarten applicants attend a one-hour playgroup, split between child-led exploration and interviewer-guided activities: play, materials, drawing, a story, and movement, while parents tour. The virtual parent interview happens at least two days later so admissions can discuss what they saw.

The current early-childhood teacher submits the ISAAGNY confidential report, and formal testing is not required. Decisions arrive February 4, 2027, with replies due February 11 at noon ET.

Grade 1 applicants join a 75-minute playgroup with age-appropriate literacy and math. Grades 2 through 4 come for 90 minutes: a tour, an academic-skills assessment, and time in a classroom, supported by two school reports, a recent writing sample, and a teacher evaluation.

Grades 5 through 8 tour, take a skills assessment, and join a class, submitting general, English, and math recommendations. ISEE and SSAT scores are optional for 2027–28.

Grades 1–8 receive decisions February 10 and reply by noon ET on February 26.

Siblings may receive early notification, intended to keep families together when the school fits both children.

Tuition and aid

The bill, and the two aid limits

For 2026–27, tuition is $39,056 for half-day preschool, $44,637 for full-day preschool, $60,040 for pre-K, $68,885 for Kindergarten through grade 4, and $71,545 for grades 5–8. That includes books, field trips, classroom activities, supplies, and most Upper School after-school programming.

It excludes lunch, Early Morning Care, Lower School aftercare, and the $100 Parents Association fee per child.

Over half of families receive need-based aid, drawing on roughly one-third of the school budget, but two limits apply. Preschool aid is limited and capped at 50 percent of tuition.

Every family reapplies annually, and enrolling without aid generally precludes receiving it later without a significant financial reversal verified by two prior tax returns. Extended-day aid also decouples from tuition: the school's materials still show an older schedule giving a family with a 70–99 percent tuition award just 30 percent off extended day.

At published 2026–27 figures, Kindergarten starts with $68,885 in tuition and a $100 PA fee, before lunch or extended care. Lunch is optional and extra from midyear in Kindergarten through grade 8; the aid overview still lists 2025–26 lunch at $1,573 plus a $45 registration fee as an older anchor.

Preschool and pre-K families send lunch from home, with snacks provided in early childhood. Early care and Lower School aftercare cost extra, and the Extended Day page still shows Fall 2025 prices.

Most Upper School afternoon programs are inside tuition. Homework Club is supervision rather than tutoring, and Rock Band may require outside lessons for a beginner.

Families apply through Clarity for a $65 fee. A school committee decides awards, announced alongside the admissions decision.

The form weighs income, assets, debt, dependents, other tuition-charging schools, cost of living, and spending on after-school, summer, and discretionary items. Both custodial and noncustodial households are generally expected to apply.

Clarity opens November 1, 2026 and is due January 1, 2027.

At contract signing, a 12 percent tuition deposit is due, plus a one-time $56 tuition-management fee. Families can pay in full with the contract, split the balance 60 percent in July and 40 percent in January, or use ten monthly installments from April through January.

Support

A support team, and a line it will not cross

Bank Street says plainly that the School for Children is not an inclusion program, a specialized school, or a school that typically works with SEITs or shadow teachers. (Bank Street College also runs a separate Family Center with integrated special-education services for young children; that is a different program.)

Inside that boundary, the Student Support Team includes learning, math, and literacy specialists, a Mental Health Team, school leaders, and classroom teachers. Specialists help coordinate curriculum, assessment, and instruction, guiding executive-function, organizational, academic, and social-emotional support.

Mental-health professionals observe classrooms, problem-solve with families and teachers, and liaise with outside providers. Kindergarten learning profiles identify strengths, growth areas, and useful instructional approaches early.

If your child has an evaluation, bring it before enrolling.

After Grade 8

You choose again after eighth grade

The search starts in grade 7, led by the placement director, the Upper School head, faculty, and advisors. The eighth-grade schedule includes a weekly High School Prep block.

Finishing in eighth grade lets children graduate as leaders and choose their next school with real self-knowledge. For families wanting one continuous school, however, it brings another round of tests, essays, auditions, interviews, and financial aid applications.

Getting there

The 1 train, a Friday at 1:00, and a bus that stops at grade 6

The school sits at 610 West 112th Street, just west of Broadway. The 1 train stops at 110th Street, and the school names the M104 and M60 buses.

Free New York City Department of Education busing is available only for Kindergarten through grade 6, and only to eligible Manhattan families within city distance rules. Published coverage includes parts of the Upper West Side, Harlem, and Hudson Heights, with routes controlled and adjusted by the city.

Grades 7 and 8 age out of that bus. Families also commute from Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, and New Jersey, which city buses do not cover.

Test the ride at 8:00 a.m., at regular dismissal, and again on a Friday.

Arrival is 8:30 a.m., with fee-based Early Morning Care starting at 8:00 for pre-K through grade 4. Preschool and Kindergarten dismiss at 3:00 Monday through Thursday and 1:00 on Friday; half-day preschool ends at noon Monday through Thursday and 1:00 on Friday.

Grades 1–3 finish at 3:00, grade 4 at 3:15, and grades 5–8 at 3:25. Lower School aftercare runs until 6:00.

Tuition covers Upper School Homework Club until 5:00, athletics, and Rock Band. Aftercare closes an afternoon gap, but cannot fix a hard morning commute.

How Bank Street's classrooms, support and high-school search work

Bank Street's progressive classrooms end at Grade 8, so ask about daily teaching now and the high-school search that follows.