Admissions Information

Dear Prospective Families,

Thank you for your interest in The Learning Tree Montessori Preschool. We are a year-round program that begins each September and goes through the third week in August. Enrollment is now full for the 2011- 2012 school year. We open our wait pool from time to time, so if you are interested in getting into our wait pool, please contact Sarah Marshall, or Director of Admissions. We try to limit our wait pool to about 20 children and will close it once it reaches this number. Please contact our Director of Admissions before submitting an application for our 2011-2012 school year wait pool.

Our Enrollment Season for the 2012-2013 school year begins October 24, 2011.

The Learning Tree is a Montessori Program. We encourage and request that you find out as much as you can about the Montessori Philosophy before turning in your application. Because we are a Montessori program, we ask our families to make at least a two-year commitment in order to fully benefit from the Montessori curriculum. The Learning Tree typically does not enroll children after 3 years 9 months for this reason. If you have a child who will be older than 3 years 9 months at the time of enrollment, please contact the office before applying.

Before an application will be accepted each family must attend a guided tour during the school day and one of our weekend Winter Open Houses (parents-only please).

Admission to The Learning Tree is based on a variety of objective and subjective criteria. We give priority to siblings of our current and alumni students. The Admissions Committee will make every effort to accept not only the children, but also the families whom we believe will thrive in our Montessori learning environment. We also attempt to balance the classroom by age, by gender, and socio-economic diversity.

Summary of our application process.
We have developed this enrollment procedure as a result of the high demand for our program.

Application Deadline:

March 1, 2012

Application Fee (non-refundable):

$50.00

Financial Aid:

We encourage families from ALL income levels to apply to The Learning Tree. Please do not be discouraged by our tuition. Each year we reserve a limited amount of spaces for families on DSHS (state) or DHHS (city) subsidy programs. To find out whether you are eligible for either of these programs, you may call The City Program (DHHS) at 386-1050 or your local Department of Social and Health Services Department (DSHS). The Learning Tree also has its own tuition assistance fund for families who do not qualify for either subsidy program. Please ask for details.

Classroom Observations:

We begin to schedule classroom observations during the last week in October. Parents must visit and observe the classrooms (without their children) before turning in an application. Since we only tour four to five families at a time (so that the classrooms do not get overcrowded with extra adults) you will need to call the school to schedule tours in advance. Our tours take place on Friday mornings, from 9:30-10:30 am, and you must have a reservation in order to attend.

Open Houses:

We will hold two adult-only Open Houses. They are scheduled for January 21 and February 25, 2012. Both open houses will begin at 10:00 AM with teacher-led tours of the school. We will then hold a presentation which will begin at approximately 10:45 am. You must attend an open house before applying to The Learning Tree. Please arrive by 10:15 am. You do not need to RSVP.

Age Requirements:

Students must be at least 2 years 6 months when they begin school. We typically do not enroll students after 3 years 9 months to ensure a two-year commitment from our families to fully benefit from the Montessori curriculum. We do make exceptions. Please call the office if you are considering applying for a child who will be older than 3 years 9 months. Children may stay with us through their kindergarten year.

Notification:

Letters of notification will be mailed on March 9, 2012. Families have until March 20, 2012 to decide whether or not they would like to take the space, and turn in a non-refundable deposit on your child’s September tuition. Families either on DSHS (State) or DHHS (city) subsidy programs will need to submit the equivalent of 50% of their current or anticipated co-pay as a deposit.

Wait Pool:

We have a wait pool for families that we are not able to enroll in the first round. As soon as any spots open up for enrollment, we will enroll only from the wait pool. The wait pool will include all of the families who applied before the end of the school day on March 1, 2012. It will remain closed to any additional applicants until October 31, 2012 when we will establish a new wait pool only if that wait pool has gone below 20 children.

We make a decision to fill a space based on the needs of the classroom and not on a first-come first-serve basis. From September through April we typically make about five offers of enrollment from our wait pool.

Summary of the application process:

1. Call for an enrollment packet and application
2. Schedule an observation visit
3. Attend one of the informational Open Houses
4. Fill out and return application and application fee by March 1, 2012
   
   *Note: an application will not be accepted unless you complete items 1 through 4. The only exception to this being families that are applying from another state or country.

Non-Discrimination Policy

The Learning Tree does not discriminate by race, sex, sexual orientation, creed or national origin in either admission or hiring policies. We welcome and celebrate diversity. Sarah Marshall