Enrollement: Admission
We have available an application packet that contains detailed information sheets about the school, as well as application forms. The packet can be mailed to you or you can pick one up in person any weekday during office hours (8:30am-3:00pm) or download from here.
PROCESS FOR ADMISSION
A. Visit Wellsprings
Before applying for admission, it is extremely helpful for prospective students and their parents to spend some time at the school talking with staff and other students. During the school year, we ask that a prospective student spend one entire day at Wellsprings, to experience the life of the school and to provide more of a concrete basis for deciding whether Wellsprings is the school for her/him. During the summer, we encourage students and parents to visit the school for a tour, during which you can see the facilities and get a ‘feel’ for the daily life of the school through seeing the layout of our classrooms, student artwork, etc. A staff member will describe our program in detail and answer any questions.
B. Waiting List
For the past several years, Wellsprings has had to place some prospective students on a waiting list. We admit students at any time during the first three-quarters of the school year, whenever there is an opening. Due to a variety of factors, openings do occur throughout the year, though of course the timing is unpredictable. Our experience has been that almost all students on the waiting list are at some point able to start attending. The wait may be only a few days, or as long as a few months.
To qualify to be on the waiting list, a student must have (1) visited the school and (2) submitted a completed application. Our general principle is that students on the waiting list are admitted on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. However, though it occurs rarely, we do sometimes admit a particular student out of sequence (i.e., ahead of others who have been on the list longer) due to the nature of that student’s personal circumstances. We encourage every student who thinks they want to attend Wellsprings to complete steps (1) and (2) as early as they can.
Please note that we often have a large number of applications by the end of a school year for admission in the following September. It is recommended that prospective students applying for fall admission not wait until the end of August but rather apply as early in the summer as possible.
C. Individual Interview with Prospective Student and Parent/s or Guardian
The final step in our admission process is the interview, which is more like a conversation. It offers a chance for students, parents, and staff of Wellsprings to deal openly and honestly with questions and concerns a potential student or parent may have. During the interview we will:
- Answer every question.
- Talk about student and parent expectations of Wellsprings.
- Talk about Wellsprings’ expectations of students, about what it means to be involved in this learning community.
- Talk about the student’s interests and goals.
- Talk about past school experiences and articulate what needs to be changed for a student to experience success.
- Define as clearly as possible what success would mean for both the parents and the student.
- Explore the reasons for wanting to come into the program: this is one of the most important things we discuss.
D. Enrollment
After we have fully explored together what the student needs and wants, and what Wellsprings Friends School requires and is able to offer, we mutually decide if it is a good match and the student is to be enrolled here.
