Best Independent (non-religious) Pre-K Schools in Brooklyn

13 schools match. Top 10 ranked by size, tuition fit, and freshness of our data.

AdmitCompass tracks 13 independent (non-religious) pre-k-level schools in Brooklyn. Annual tuition ranges from $22.5K/yr to $62.7K/yr, with a median of $47.6K/yr across schools that publish a number. Brooklyn has the highest concentration with 13 schools.

Admissions processes vary by school. AdmitCompass surfaces the deadlines, test requirements, and tuition for each campus on its detail page, so families can build a balanced reach / target / safety list. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.

See also: Private, Charter, Catholic.

  1. 1

    Bay Ridge Preparatory School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $38.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~550 students
  2. 2

    Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $27.2K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~200 students
  3. 3

    Brooklyn Waldorf School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades N-8

    Tuition
    $36.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~250 students
  4. 4

    Brooklyn Free School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades K-12

    Tuition
    $22.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~70 students
  5. 5

    Poly Prep Country Day School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades N-12

    Tuition
    $60.1K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,000 students
  6. 6

    Packer Collegiate Institute

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $60.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,000 students
  7. 7

    Berkeley Carroll School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $59.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~900 students
  8. 8

    Saint Ann's School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $62.7K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,100 students
  9. 9

    Brooklyn Heights Montessori School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-8

    Tuition
    $54.8K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~300 students
  10. 10

    BASIS Independent Brooklyn

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $39.5K/yr
    Type
    private
How we rank these schools

Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.

Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.

We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.

Read the full methodology.

Frequently asked questions

What's the average tuition for pre-k schools in Brooklyn?
Across the 13 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $22.5K/yr to $62.7K/yr, with a median of $47.6K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission in Brooklyn?
Admissions selectivity ranges from open-enrollment (most charters and parish schools) to highly selective (top independent K-12 programs). Each school's profile page lists deadlines, test requirements, and any published acceptance rate.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Brooklyn Free School is the smallest with 70 students; Saint Ann's School is the largest at 1100. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.

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