Admissions Process & Timeline
Each September Stretch welcomes a number of new families into our program. Their children range from young twos just starting their school experience to our oldest 5 year olds, entering our TK program. We strive to admit like-minded families who join our program looking for the values and approach to early childhood education that we uphold. Stretch is a school of inquiry, curiosity, and love. We nurture children’s innate ability to wonder, explore, and investigate all the magic that defines this unique time in their lives. Our educators approach each day with thought and intention, facilitating discovery and learning alongside the child.
Step One: Visit Us
We encourage all families who have a child of the appropriate age, (must be 2 by August 31st of the upcoming school year) to join us for a tour. We offer many tours between the months of September-January. During our tours your will meet educators, parents, and have time to listen to a presentation from the director, Michelle Lawton. There will also be ample time to walk through the school and look at the classrooms and read the documentation that illustrates our curriculum. There is also time to ask questions at the end of the presentation. Please know that if you decide to apply to our program after the tours have finished you are still able to submit a written application. If your child is admitted we will offer you a personal tour in March before you make your decision to attend.
Step Two: Apply
Stretch requires each family to fill out a written application available in our password-protected Dashboard. You also must pay a $50 application fee and submit a family photo. Our application contains a number of questions that help us to get to know your child and family. All applications are due by February 1st of each admissions year to be considered in the first round. If you come to us after February 1st you are still welcome to apply and we will add your child’s application to our wait-pool. Should an opening come available we will contact you.
Step Three: Acceptance
We spend the month of February reading applications. Each year we join a number of other preschools in San Francisco and send out our acceptance letters on the same date. This practice speaks to our belief in supporting families to find the best fit for their child when choosing an early childhood program. For the 2018/2019 school year, we will email acceptance and waitlist letters on March 12th, 2018. Families have until 10am on March 18th to accept or decline. After this time we will move on to our waitlist. When a family is offered a spot from our wait-pool they are given 24 hours to respond to this offer. If you do not receive an acceptance letter we will retain your application in our wait-pool for the weeks, months and years to come. We welcome families to continue to reach out and inquiry about their child’s application if they are still interested in joining our program.
Sending our daughter to Stretch was one of
the best decisions we've ever made as parents.
— Parent