Head of School

Olivia Ramsey

Olivia is the co-founder and Head of School at Smith Street Arts & Lettres. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a teacher and school administrator to her role, where she will guide the faculty in their mission of educating the whole child in a bilingual setting. 

With bachelor’s degrees from Earlham College in French and psychology and a Masters of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education, Olivia spent the early part of her career studying French educational theory in France and Martinique in both traditional and progressive educational settings. For more than 20 years, Olivia has closely followed current research in child development and best educational practice to form the foundation for her nurturing yet academically-rigorous pedagogical approach, which she has developed and refined over her two decades as a lead teacher for children in early childhood through adolescence. 

In 2008, after three years of leading kindergarten at the Lycée Français de New York, Olivia joined the founding faculty of the PS 58 Dual Language Program, where she worked in partnership with the French Embassy writing curriculum, mentoring teachers, and creating the foundation for the award-winning program. During her tenure, the program grew from one kindergarten class to a dozen classes across six grade levels with an extensive waitlist for entry. 

While working in the New York City public school system in large classrooms, Olivia saw many of her students demonstrate a crucial need for tailored and individualized instruction. To meet that need, she opened an independent tutoring practice, Smith Street Workshop. It was immediately clear that this academic support fulfilled a demand in the community, and Olivia expanded quickly, offering private tutoring as well as enrichment classes. In 2016, the Workshop launched a robust High School Admissions program, guiding students through admissions to some of the most competitive high schools in the country. Smith Street Workshop now provides tutoring, academic enrichment and test prep to hundreds of students and partners with charter schools, community organizations, and educational foundations for on-site programming throughout NYC. 

In 2015, the French Embassy and the FACE foundation contracted Smith Street Workshop to create the first Dual Language International Baccalaureate program in a public school at the Boerum Hill School for International Studies. Olivia designed the curriculum and recruited, hired, and trained teachers, setting the successful program in motion. The school is now ranked one of the top middle schools in District 15. 

After establishing elementary and middle school dual-language programs and building a successful tutoring business to fill the gaps in traditional education programs, Olivia identified that high-quality French-immersion preschool instruction, founded on the principles of the Developmental-Interaction approach, would provide students with the necessary foundation to be even more successful in future bilingual settings. In 2018, Olivia opened Smith Street Maternelle, a French-immersion preschool, which now welcomes nearly one hundred children at two locations in Carroll Gardens and Gowanus, Brooklyn. 

As a result of her experience, Olivia is uniquely situated to lead the development of Arts & Lettres as Head of School. She is thrilled to consolidate not only her educational research, deep understanding of child development, and commitment to experiential learning, but also her administrative experience in developing and operating sustainable schools.