Palladia Launches Early Learning Center for Children in the Bronx

Palladia has opened its long-awaited Stratford Early Learning Center to serve young children living at Stratford House, a supportive housing facility for families in the Soundview Section of the Bronx (1168 Stratford Ave.). Palladia Inc.’s Stratford Early Learning Center serves 25 children in two classrooms ages 18 months to five years. While priority placement is given to children of residents, the Center is now open to children from the community.

“This is not babysitting,” says Helena Manning, Program Director and Head Teacher, who has a master’s degree in early childhood special education and a bachelor’s degree in child development. “We want our children to develop basic skills that will carry them through their academic years. Our goal is to prepare them for formal learning by giving them the foundation so they will be successful academically.”

The children are divided into two groups: children 18 months to 21/2 years and children 21/2 to 5 years old. Each group has three staff -- a head teacher, an assistant teacher and a teacher’s aide. The environment is set up to be very accessible to the children. The program encourages self sufficiency—children learn to pour their own milk and juice during meal times. The goal is not to inhibit the children rather to teach them to serve themselves.

“We use a combination of early childhood principles, balancing teacher-directed and child-initiated activities,” said Ms. Manning. “All of our materials and activities are designed to help children develop a variety of skills including self help (buttoning, zipping, serving themselves), motor skills (stringing beads) and cognitive skills such as sort, classify and problem solve.”

Since the Center opened on October 6, Ms. Manning has seen improvement in the children’s social skills. They know how to greet each other in the morning. The children are also receiving reading preparation. “We are very big on literacy. We read to them everyday. We want them to understand that print means something. This is all preparing them to read,” she said.

Parents living in the community interested in enrolling a child should contact Ms. Manning directly at 718-328-8065 x31. The Center accepts HRA and ACS vouchers. Palladia is looking to create scholarship opportunities for low-come families who are employed and may not qualify for vouchers. Palladia received foundation and private support for the start-up of the Center.

Press Contact:
Alyse Booth
ABA International
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