Philosophy
The Trillium Program comes from a need for the continuation of French education beyond preschool classrooms. Through their shared vision of what the world and existing educational systems currently need, Pascale Setbon and Sudha Seetharaman decided to respond to their community by forming a center for progressive, international education. Pascale Setbon is a pioneer in French education in Brooklyn and opened a French immersion preschool in 2006. Sudha Seetharaman provides arts and science-based education to the Clinton Hill community. She founded Trilok School after witnessing the need for the integration of art, science and technology with education. Trilok School has always valued multilingualism, and through this collaboration with LLS is excited to implement a French/ English Dual-lingual Program
The pedagogical, philosophical and educational values and mission of The Language and Laughter Studio closely align with the educational structure of Trilok School. They each place an emphasis on a sustained holistic education of a child’s mind, body and soul in addition to the arts, environmental sustainability and real-time interaction with international cultures. This is reflected in Trilok school’s prioritization of foreign languages and the Trillium Program that Pascale will co-initiate within the school.
In the Trillium Program, children are scholars, creators, leaders and grand contributors to their community.
The program’s bilingual curriculum emphasizes a well-rounded approach to education with artistic expression as the foundation of a child’s social emotional development. Children are active participants in their own learning. The curriculum will be highly individualized and experiential according to each student’s needs. We emphasize engagement with the community, field trips and project-based learning.
The Trillium Program will begin with one class – the Trillium Class – as a Kindergarten, First and Second Grade mixed age classroom.
We will introduce this program at this age group and continue up till high school.
Accreditations and Affiliations:
The Trillium Program is affiliated with and recognized by the Cambridge International Curriculum. The Cambridge international curriculum sets a global standard for education and is recognised by universities and employers worldwide. The curriculum is flexible, challenging and inspiring, culturally sensitive yet international in approach. Cambridge students develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. They also gain the essential skills they need for success at university and in their future careers.
We will also seek membership (2022) and accreditation (2025) from the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY), which is a not-for-profit organization whose member schools agree to adhere to ISAAGNY’s state admissions practices and procedures. This is in order to ensure a fair and professional admissions process that best serves its schools and applicant families.
LLS Background
Pioneers of French education in Brooklyn since 2006, LLS is an inspiration to many educators and a leader in progressive language education. LLS is centered on arts integration, imagination, child-driven projects and play-based learning.
Through French/ English dual-lingual schools, we see an expanding holistic development of children’s intellectual and social abilities. Language resonates with culture. At LLS we expand the minds of our children to see they are part of a much bigger world.
Our French preschool program is now in its 14th year at our location on Nevins Street, where we cultivate an outstandingly unique, high quality, and rigorous French program for young children. A community-builder, LLS has developed a wide-ranging network of parents, children and alumni.
Children graduating from the LLS program are fluent in French, and leave with a sense of ownership of the language.
Trilok has served the community through arts education for 20+ years. Growing rapidly in 2010, Trilok moved to a 22,000 square foot building on Waverly Avenue. Trilok School (https://trilokschool.org/) has been located in Clinton Hill for 13 years. Trilok is a progressive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) school that emphasizes peace, art, environmental sustainability and global citizenship. The school utilizes the Montessori/Reggio Emilia philosophy and groups students according to their unique educational needs and to learn from peers of varied ages. The teachers at Trilok School are selected based upon their connection with students and their presence in the classroom. The entirety of a teacher and their educational vision is intrinsic to Trilok. Students build relationships within the school and can continue at Trilok through the 12th grade.
Trilok utilizes the Cambridge International Curriculum, the international standard for an education that prepares students to tackle demands of tomorrow’s world.
Trilok and LLS are combining their strengths to open a unique program based upon creativity, inquiry and multiculturalism.
Mathematics
Kindergarten: Life Science engages children’s imaginations and curiosity about the ways our natural world works. The Cambridge curriculum is incorporated to support independent work and class science together. Earth is studied as a home for all Life, which requires the care and nurture of all human beings. Children actively engage in a green vision, learning to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and even to compost. Trilok garden creates seasonal opportunities, to observe the cycle of plant life, and to cultivate vegetables and fruits.
Through exploration of the senses, students engage in active experimentation, learn to think logically, make predictions, classify observations, and solve problems. As a result, they become able to recognize patterns of nature and signs and symbols of life’s processes.
Elementary: As children mature and employ new tools of investigation, the Sciences magnify the world exponentially. Guided by the awareness of Trilok House Heroes, Einstein and Curie, students embark upon their scientific studies, guided by the humane mission of contributing to the Earth and to Life.
At Trilok, Science compels learning from Nature, as students learn to wonder thoughtfully, to think logically, to research and experiment imaginatively, and to solve problems. Trilok’s beautiful garden creates seasonal opportunities to nurture nature, as children establish strong connections between the processes of the earth and its materials, the clothes they wear, and of course, the food they eat.
Life Science will be taught both in English and French.
English and French Literacy
Kindergarten: A child is a writer from the first mark they make on paper, and our goal is to nurture this, alongside a deep enthusiasm for reading and writing. As students learn to read a picture, a facial expression, a letter, a number, word or a story, clues of literacy are decoded organically. Each child grows through skills and understandings found in literacy lessons, and their confidence follows. Teachers work to strengthen this identity of: I CAN read. I CAN write.
Berries immerse themselves in the daily process of creating books. Through listening to stories and reading them with increasing independence, students become inspired and they learn about authors and illustrators as people who offer great gifts.
Elementary: While students’ ideas expand, they express themselves in increasingly complex ways and gain a voracious hunger for literacy. Students present their work regularly to their peers, and they gain immense confidence with reading and writing across genres, and in their handwriting and fine motor skills.
As students add new dimensions to the research of self, they dig up familial history, and begin to chart their lives as a road between past and future.
English literacy will be purely taught in English.
French literacy will be taught purely in French.
Global Studies
Kindergarten: Social Studies invites the students to develop the skills to contribute to a peaceful society. Students learn citizenship skills in the classroom by making agreements, solving problems, and practicing compassion.
Children’s understanding of time and space stretch, and they delve into inquiry about their family’s roots. They begin to chart the neighborhood and the globe through their familiar pathways. Homework Assignments. (AHA!) Provides opportunity for enhanced family dialogue and connection.
Elementary: Food Studies engages children in a deeper understanding of the diverse story behind all they eat. Cooking as sous-chefs, they study the cultural diversity of food practices and the historical migrations of humans, which have led to the particular cuisines of cultures. Students manifest their learning as they gather produce from the garden and learn to cook a variety of dishes, then take notes in cultural cooking books.
Social Studies grounds teaches learners about how to create a peacemaking world, as they make agreements, solve problems, and develop comprehension of their feelings and others. Students weave together a maturing inner world with an ever-expanding outer world.
Global Studies will be taught purely in French.
Dance/Theater
Kindergarten: Body and Mind experience deep integration through various practices, which include yoga, meditation, gym, dance, and theater. Breath awareness links them all, to bridge the wellbeing of body and mind for Trilok young learners.
Children learn to identify their feelings and soothe their woes, through skills of compassion, self-regulation and convict resolution.
Elementary: Body and Mind are supported toward deep integration through various practices, including yoga, meditation, gym, dance and theater. Breath awareness links them all, which bridges the wellbeing of body and mind for the maturing learner. While gross motor skills develop and fine motor skills are honed, concentration and self-awareness are strengthened.
At Trilok, children explore embodied expression on many levels, from play to art to sport. Children learn to identify their feelings and soothe their woes, both personal and interpersonal, through skills of compassion, self-regulation and conflict resolution.
Dance and movement will be taught in both English and French.
Performing Arts
Kindergarten: Each season, Trilok children study a wide range of performing arts from music and dance, to theater and circus, through Trilok Fusion Arts, and their ability to express themselves grows. They rehearse Ensemble Theater, music, and dance works each season, to show to their families, in a biannual community event.
In the process, students learn songs and rhythmic phrases, explore the intentions and contrasts of fast and slow beats, and discover their movements’ voice through instruments.
Elementary: Within each season, Trilok children study a wide range of performing arts from Music and Dance, to Theater and Circus. They participate in artistic processes with professional artists through Trilok School’s collaboration with Trilok Fusion Arts. While gaining skills of motion, presence, and participation, they collaborate with their class to create performance works. They create ensemble theater, music and dance works each season to show to their families.
Performing arts will be taught in both English and French
Visual Arts
Kindergarten: With classes such as weaving and technology, students engage in creative exploration, through which they expand their imaginative capabilities. As they handle paint, scissors, glue and more, they improve their motor skills, and they are introduced to great art, artists and learn art history.
Elementary: The class values the exploration of visual arts both as a vehicle to learn and express various fields of study, from weaving class to technology, which offers children a wide palate of tools for creative expression. Also, children learn to recycle and reuse materials, which brings a unique and powerful “green” consciousness to creativity. Children learn to explore the creative power of their inner voice, as they dive more independently into diverse artistic materials.
Visual arts will be taught in both French and English.