What are the school hours?
All grades, kindergarten through eighth, start school at 8:10. Kindergarten through third grade dismiss at 2:45, fourth through eighth grade dismiss at 2:55. These are the dismissal times Monday through Thursday. On Fridays the lower grades dismiss at 2:15 and the upper grades at 2:25. Occasionally, there are minimum days (in-service, faculty meetings, etc.) and school is scheduled from 8:10 until 12:25 for grade K-3 and 8:10 until 12:35 for grades 4-8.
Is extended care available?
Yes, AM extended care is available before school beginning at 7:00 a.m. Interested families must enroll their children in AM extended care for the full school year. There is a single annual fee for this service. Once enrolled the family may use the program as frequently as they wish. PM school care is provided from dismissal time each day until 6:00 P.M. This is a drop in program. It may be used whenever a family chooses to do so. There is an hourly charge of $3 for this service. Parents whose children use the service are billed each month.
How many students are in each classroom?
The average class size is approximately 36 students. Kindergarten has two full time teachers and two part time professional aides. Aides are also available for many of the other classrooms. Also, there are volunteers who help in the classrooms on a regular basis. We have specialized teachers for science and math in the upper grades. A visit to our school and the classrooms will demonstrate to you that the students are happy, in good order and enjoying learning.
How old does a child need to be in order to be accepted for kindergarten?
St. Thomas More School follows the California guidelines. Only students who will be five years old by the first of December 2010 will be considered for acceptance.
Back to Top
How many new students will be accepted?
In kindergarten we will enroll about thirty-eight students. Often, more than half the kindergarten enrollment is made up of siblings of current St. Thomas More School students. Children currently attending Utopia, our preschool, will also be given preference for enrollment. We believe we will enroll about a dozen new students this year for grades one to eight.
What is the criteria for acceptance?
Our considerations include the family’s connection with the school, the religion of the child and the family, whether or not the family is an active part of the worship community at St. Thomas More or elsewhere, where the family lives (to make involvement more convenient), what time and talents the family is willing to share with the school community, etc.
Applicants for grades 1-8 must also provide the most recent report card and test scores. These applicants will be tested. Kindergarten applicants are not tested. Student and parent interviews and remarks from each student’s current school staff members are all considered. Completeness of application and the timeliness of its submission is a consideration in all grades. Families with more than one child applying to the school often receive special consideration. Applicants to all grades must be proficient in English in order to be considered for enrollment.
How does one apply?
Applications must be picked up in person. They are available from the school office beginning February 1st at 9:00 a.m. The completed application and the $35 (non-refundable) application fee are required of all applicants. Before acceptance is complete. Students applying to kindergarten and first grade must provide an original, official, embossed birth certificate or baptismal certificate. A copy alone of either of these items cannot be accepted. Please obtain an original of at least one of those forms if you do not now have one. (Once the original is seen, we will immediately return it to you.) All Catholic students must present a copy of their baptismal certificate before their acceptance is final.
What is the deadline for submitting applications?
There is no specific deadline. When a class is full and we do not expect to accept any more students, we will accept applications only for the waiting list. Depending on the circumstances, kindergarten applications received after mid-February, will likely be placed on the waiting list.
Back to Top
When will we be notified about the status of our kindergarten application(s)?
By the middle of February we expect to begin mailing kindergarten acceptances to those who completed the application process by February 12th. It is a gradual process that will probably take several weeks. If you have submitted your complete kindergarten application package by February 12th and you have not heard anything from the school concerning that application by March 5th, you should call us.
When will we be notified about the status of our application(s) to other grades?
We are scheduled to complete our own students’ re-registration by the end of March. After that date, we will begin accepting students to grades 1-8 to fill any openings available. However, for many applicants to first through eighth grades, we will be able to tell families what the possibility of acceptance is well before April. This is possible from a review of the applicant’s report card, his/her testing results and the number of spots currently available in the grade to which the applicant is applying.
What happens if I receive a letter of acceptance?
You will be given a deadline, approximately one week, to submit the appropriate fees to hold your child’s seat. These fees are non-refundable. If you change your mind and do not send your child to the school for any reason, the fees are still non-refundable. If the office does not receive the fees to hold your child’s spot by the stated deadline, the seat may be offered to another applicant.
What if my child has been put on the waiting list?
Because of the number of applicants, some children may be wait listed. Certainly there will be many wonderful families and children put on the waiting list at least initially. Our experience has been that openings develop even up to the beginning of the school year. When that happens, we reconsider all the applicants on our waiting list. The waiting list is unranked and we will choose the best applicant from those available. (Understandably, this takes some time as some of those on the waiting list have already chosen to enroll elsewhere.) We do not know when those vacancies will occur or how many we may have during this process. We only know that we will have some changes and additions.
Back to Top
How much is tuition and how is it paid?
The 2009-2010 year’s annual tuition currently is $4,800 for one child. There is a slight discount for siblings. Tuition rates are increased slightly every year. Our new tuition and fee rates will be available in April. Families may choose from several different tuition payment plans including the single payment plan, the ten-payment plan or another of our many payment choices. Checks and credit cards are accepted.
Why should we choose St. Thomas More for our child(ren)?
We like to think that there are many reasons. St. Thomas More is a school of choice. Almost all our students commute to and from the school. It is not a walk-in school that is convenient to a neighborhood. The very experienced staff offers a superior educational program. We believe that education is not limited to that which is between the two covers of a textbook and within the four walls of the classroom. Education extends far beyond the school’s geographic boundaries! Parents choose this school for what it has to offer. Annually, there is a very limited number of required parent participation hours (about six). This is because we have so many active, interested and involved parents, both moms and dads. Please feel free to talk to parents of children already enrolled in the school to see why they are so proud to be part of the St. Thomas More School Community.
And a few final notes...
Please keep in mind that the kindergarten program at St. Thomas More School has a decidedly academic approach. If you do not wish to have your child in such a program, preferring a more social/play kindergarten program, you should consider another school’s kindergarten program. National Catholic Schools Week is the only time we have observation and visitation. We strongly encourage you to visit and observe what is happening here. We are proud of our fully accredited program as well as the results the program produces. Please bring your student applicant with you, if you wish, but you will need to see that (s)he is not a distraction to the education process. No appointments for visitation/observation are necessary during this week. Visit as many classrooms and grades as you like. Try to limit each classroom visit to no more than fifteen minutes at any one time. Give someone else a chance to take a turn, then return to visit again. We prefer no more than two families visiting in one room at one time. When observing and the teacher is working with the students, we would appreciate it if you would not distract the children or the teacher. Please do ask questions at an appropriate time. Our 8th grade student ambassadors will guide you on your tour of our facilities and will also answer many of the questions that you may have. Thank you for your interest in St. Thomas More School. We look forward to meeting you and your family.
Back to Top
|
