a co-ed, independent, inclusion school for grades k-12+

18-21 Next Steps Transition Program

The Next Steps Transition Program logo features three red blocks arranged as a staircase rising
6 students and 3 teachers stretch a ball of yarn across a table in a team-building activity

Next Steps students and teachers participate in a team-building activity on the first day of the 2023-24 school year.

The Next Steps Transition Program at The IDEAL School of Manhattan is a one, two, or three year postsecondary program helping students aged 18-21 reach their fullest potential and achieve their dreams.

Next Steps is student-centered, individualized, and builds upon the unique strengths, goals, and interests of each student. The program supports students' continued progress in social-emotional, adaptive-life, executive functioning, and vocational skills and supports them and their families in planning for their next steps in life, changing the focus from educational to adult services. Next Steps is open to students who attended IDEAL in Grade 12, to those who finished High School elsewhere, or those who transfer from another postsecondary program. 

Next Steps gives students the tools to live as independently as they are able, and supports them in locating adult services.

Next Steps prepares students to continue their education in college or another postsecondary program after one to three years. IDEAL’s differentiated and individualized academic classes provide Next Steps students with everyday adult skills and health classes provide information for adult life. Continued arts education helps build students’ confidence and self-awareness, factors that will mesh with the job skills they will acquire as they prepare to enter the workforce. 

Please reach out to the Admission Office for more information or read these Next Steps Open House slides.

 

Next Steps News

a woman talks to a student near a tray of dog biscuits on a work table, both wear Invictus hats and aprons
Interning at Invictus

One of our Next Steps students recently started her internship at Invictus Bakery. After taking the subway to the bakery in Downtown Brooklyn, she met Co-Founder and Director Alison Berkley, who introduced her to the friendly and welcoming staff. After a tour of the facility, she washed her hands, put on her Invictus Bakery apron and cap, and got to work. Her daily tasks and duties included handling and packaging dog biscuits, making vegan chocolate chip cookies, mixing chocolate cake batter, and preparing baked sweet potatoes. Photos of our baker at work are in this Facebook album.

4 candle scent labels
Next Steps is Open for Business

Next Steps is selling candles again for the 2024-25 school year! Candles cost $10 and can be purchased online or at the school store on Thursdays and Fridays. Next Steps students will deliver purchased candles to staff/students. Next Steps students chose the scents, made the candles and designed the labels. Fall scents include Rose, Lavender, Coconut, Snickerdoodle, and Pumpkin Spice. Use this Square link to purchase your candles today!

 

a group of students, one in a wheelchair, surround a table in a park with pots and buckets on it
Getting Their Hands Dirty

Next Steps took a field trip on Friday to Battery Urban Farm. There, the students potted plants and tasted different vegetables and herbs grown on the farm, including mountain mint, ground cherries, basil, cucamelons, Malabar spinach, edible flowers, and fennel seed. Additionally, the students learned about composting, smelled different flowers, and got to take home a gomphrena flower. Fabulous farm photos are on Facebook.