Visit The School

Before applying for admission to Wellsprings, it is important 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 the school is right 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.

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.

Individual Interview with Prospective Student and Parent/s or Guardian

The final step in our admission process is an 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.
  
• Explore the reasons for wanting to come into the program: this is one of the most important things we discuss.

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 in the school.

An application can be downloaded here, picked up at the school any weekday during office hours (8:30-3:30), or mailed to you.  When completed, it should be dropped off at the school or mailed in.