Like swimming, becoming a nursery school participant takes skill and learning before one can maneuver within the program. You wouldn’t put your child in deep water without knowing if he or she could swim. Similarly, you wouldn’t enroll your child in an advanced class until the child showed some readiness.

In order to maximize your child’s positive growth, you should carefully consider the number of days your child participates in our program. To reap the benefits of a program of our scope, your child must first be socially ready and temperamentally disposed to some periods of self-regulation and separation form you, regardless of chronological age.

Our co-op requires that the child interact with 34 children and about 34 adults each and every week. The size of each daily session challenges the social skills of even the most experienced adult, let alone a child. Helping children to grow socially and emotionally in the pre-school years requires a great deal of skill, cooperation, consideration and patience from the staff and parents. Only two adults per session are professionally trained to make the most of the children’s experiences. When Parents choose the right number of days to attend school, their children can grow more competent without the negative effects of expecting them to behave at an intensity beyond their development or temperament.

Please use the following guidelines to determine your child’s preparedness for nursery school.

• Unable to separate from you and shows considerable sadness or distress
• Unable to stay within the school boundaries
• Destructive towards property
• Frequently disruptive
• Belligerent or aggressive toward children and staff
• Not toilet-trained or off the bottle or pacifier during school hours

BEGINNING READINESS – Select one to two days per week if one or all of the following applies to your child:

• Has occasional bouts of separation problems
• Has some periodic difficulty conforming to the routines of the day; may need assistance, but will come in for circle time and snack.
• Finds it difficult to sit for 15 minutes at circle time, but can manage with periodic reminders.
• Needs frequent intervention to stay on task.

INTERMEDIATE READINESS – Select three days per week when your child exhibits the following:

• Can separate form you most of the time
• Can stay in circle time with a little bit of assistance
• Is able to honor requests to stay out of areas designated as closed
• Needs only occasional redirection (once or twice a week)

ADVANCED READINESS – Select four or five days a week when your child exhibits the following:

• Rarely has a problem with separation
• Responds cooperatively to requests made by adults and can maintain control at circle times
• Is able to honor the boundaries and limits of the school
• Rarely needs someone to redirect his or her behavior

It is sometimes difficult for a parent and even a staff person to know at first how many days would be appropriate for your child to attend. If necessary, the staff will evaluate and may make recommendations to adjust your child’s daily attendance after roughly 30 days (within the first week during the summer program). We would appreciate your cooperation and understanding, as well as your input as we work together to make a positive environment for all.