Parents are required to assist the teacher and aide in the classroom as the “parent helper” on a regular schedule. The frequency is determined by how often you send your child or children, and the number of families currently enrolled. The minimum for a family would be one child enrolled for two days a week, in which case you will help in the classroom once or twice a month. If your child attends school five days a week you should expect to be in the classroom three to four days a month. You may not send a babysitter, grandparent or other substitute to work in the classroom for you. You will also thoroughly clean and disinfect the classroom at the end of the day.

Each family is also responsible for a ‘family duty’ – a regular cleaning or maintenance job for one semester that usually takes 30 minutes or less per week. Examples of this are doing the laundry, taking out the trash, and deep cleaning the bathrooms.

We also have occasional fundraisers, parties and special work projects, when we all chip in extra time. There is no school on field trip days: we either attend the field trip with our children or arrange for another parent to take them.

There is a mandatory parent meeting the second Thursday of every month.

Children who are still using diapers or pull-ups are welcome. Children often learn to use the potty much more quickly in preschool where most of the other kids are doing it. Until then, we are happy to work with you and your child’s needs.

Almost every year our group has included children who did not speak or understand English at all, or only a little. We have found that they learn very quickly. Our teacher and parents are sensitive and sympathetic with them, and we have not had any serious difficulty in communicating with them. It’s amazing how much progress they can make in only one year. We also try to be considerate of parent members who are still learning English themselves.

We prefer not to have children at monthly parent meetings. We find it difficult to concentrate on the meeting and keep it to a reasonable length when children are present. In addition, sometimes we must discuss school concerns that may not be appropriate for the children to overhear. If a child has two parents or guardians, we only expect one to represent the family at the meeting.

All of our children are invited to field trips and special school events, regardless of what days they are enrolled. You will know the times and days for such events well in advance, so if your child is not enrolled that day you can still bring them in to meet the firefighters.

Yes. We allow prospective families to visit our school and meet Mrs. Foote before enrolling. Please use the ‘Request Information’ form on the website to contact the registrar and arrange a tour.

Yes, we hold a public open house on a Saturday during the spring semester, usually in March. There will be information posted on the home page of the website announcing details of the open house.