P.S. 056 Norwood Heights School

Principal’s Message   

“We must learn about other cultures in order to understand, in order to love, 

and in order to preserve our common world heritage.” – Yo-Yo Ma

Dearest P.S. 56 School Family,

   How is it possible that we are already saying “Hello May”!  Our school year together continues to fly as our students continue to SPARKLE & Shine and joyfully grow in leaps and bounds!  As a parent and grandmother, I have always appreciated the expression what a difference a year can make. And what an extraordinary year this has been for all our children.  Our strong home-school connection has made this a year of joyful learning for all our children.  With everyone’s loving support, our children are truly without limits as they grow as readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, artists, musicians, dancers, critical thinkers, and friends.  With everyone’s loving support, our children are able to navigate the challenges we all face as learners.  With everyone’s loving support, our children understand that we are all in the process of becoming and that every new moment is a new opportunity to be better than our last best.   My advice to us all continues to be “don’t blink”, because we don’t want to miss a minute of their amazing journey!  

     It continues to be a tremendous blessing and honor for us to be your awesome children’s second teachers!  We are immeasurably grateful that you have chosen P.S. 56 to be your children’s academic home.  We have successfully worked together to ensure our children feel safe, feel known and loved, and reach their full potential as lifelong learners.  They are so proud of their accomplishments, as well they should be!  With the biggest smiles and great excitement, they share their new learning, their projects and their completed activities with me.  Most importantly, they appreciate and applaud each other.  Our children have cultivated true and lasting friendships and taught us all about the power of resilience, empathy, sticking together, and always seeing the best in ourselves and each other.  There is always so much to celebrate here at P.S. 56 – most especially the amazing children we serve!

     Throughout this school year we continue to seize every opportunity to celebrate the lives, contributions and heritages of our school community. We are so tremendously blessed to be part of such a beautiful and diverse school family!  It is truly our super power!  Our classroom and school libraries provide an abundance of opportunities for our students to read, listen to, and discuss both window and mirror books .  These learning and literacy experiences cultivate empathy and build and strengthen our students’ understanding and appreciation of themselves and others.  #BestSchoolFamilyEver!  

      A beautiful  new month begins and our wonder-filled journey together continues.  Bring it on - we are so ready to SPARKLE and shine!

Fondly, 

Maureen O’Neill

Principal