At a Glance
A tiny strengths-based program for young children with special needs, tucked into eastern Queens
Best suited for
Families of young children (preschool through early elementary) with identified developmental or learning needs who want a small, therapy-rich, strengths-based setting and who can manage a car-dependent eastern Queens commute.
What stands out
- An 8:1 student-teacher ratio that allows for deeply individualized work, especially meaningful for children with significant needs
- Co-location of preschool special education, UPK, and Head Start, which gives enrolled children daily contact with typically developing peers
- On-site speech therapy and occupational therapy built into the program rather than pulled out through an external provider
- A strengths-based philosophy that explicitly pairs high expectations with a nurturing tone — a combination many parents of children with disabilities look for
Things to consider
- This is a specialized program, not a general-education private school — most enrolled families are navigating an IEP or a documented developmental need
- With only 16 students total, the social peer group is very small, which is a feature for individualized attention but a limitation for older students
- No subway access within walking distance makes the commute a real logistics question
- Grade range stretches to grade 5 on paper, but the program is shaped heavily around early-childhood special education, so families considering it for elementary-aged children should ask specifically about the upper-grade experience
Identity
A specialized early-childhood program where the student-teacher ratio of 8:1 means every child gets sustained, individualized attention. The school operates as a preschool special education site and also hosts Universal Pre-K (UPK) and Head Start classrooms, so the population mixes children with identified special needs with typically developing peers.
Community
Enrollment is 16 students, almost entirely Black and Hispanic (50% Black, 43.8% Hispanic, 6.2% Asian). The diversity index sits at 0.80, reflecting a community that is meaningfully mixed though drawn from a narrow racial band. Staffing is just two teachers, so the 'community' here is really more of a clinical-family partnership than a school community in the conventional sense.
Neighborhood
The Springfield Gardens / Brookville section of eastern Queens is a quiet, residential area where median household income is roughly $110,000 and about a quarter of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Poverty runs around 10%, in line with broader Queens norms. It's the kind of neighborhood where families know their block, not a destination for foot traffic.
There are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk. Families will need a car, a school bus arrangement, or rideshare to get here — this is genuinely car-dependent eastern Queens.
Notable Programs
Make this school part of your plan
Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.
No credit card required
Explore nearby
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades Pre-K to 5 in Springfield Gardens (South)-Brookville.
- What grades does BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD serve?
- BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD?
- BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD public, charter, or private?
- BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD is a private school.
- What neighborhood is BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD in?
- BIRCH FAMILY SERVICE-SPRINGFIELD GRD is in Springfield Gardens (South)-Brookville, Queens.