At Ocean Avenue we believe that it is important to take care of ourselves, each other, and our school and community. We believe in a careful balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated learning and strive to develop problem-solving ability both socially and academically. Working with parents as partners in education is a priority and tradition at Ocean. Parental involvement and understanding is key. Our shared Decision-making Committee plays an active role in our learning community. This year, we will explore rules in our school and seek to improve our positive approach. Our teachers provide an orderly, consistent and predictable approach to learning that nurtures empowerment and self-respect and the social skills of cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. Our goals are respectful, relevant and realistic. Each student is viewed as an individual with a unique learning style.

Our school motto, TEAM, Together Everyone Achieves More, characterizes the philosophy at Ocean Avenue . Teachers, parents and community members consistently strive to build upon the quality program already in existence at our school. We follow a continuous improvement model where all staff members are engaged in perfecting their skills and seeking out opportunities to enrich the lives of our students. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the social and academic growth and success for each and every child entrusted to us. We are embarking on the fourth year of our literacy initiative, and literacy activities are infused into all areas of the curriculum. Our staff members are part of the Columbia University Teacher’s College Reading/Writing Project, and continually seek to perfect their skills to bring best practice to all they do.