What is Country Day looking for in an ideal candidate for
enrollment?
Country Day is looking first and foremost for families, as much
as we are for students. This is because we know that children are
best prepared to succeed educationally when parents and teachers
work together in a cooperative partnership.
Throughout a child’s application process, we will engage with
parents about their values, goals and hopes for their children
educationally. Together we’ll ascertain whether our school
mission, resonates with the philosophy of your own household and
share more with you about ways that Country Day seeks to partner
with the parents of our students in support of their
learning.
Our process is also designed to help us identify whether or not
the applicant will be prepared to access our dynamic, rich,
rigorous curriculum. We believe that every child is unique and we
are a diverse community of learners, thinkers, makers and doers.
We value the contributions of those students who
crave serious intellectual challenge in the classroom as
well as those who push themselves in other areas, outside of the
classroom, in their art, their sport or their service to others.
Our community includes students who receive extra support from
our Learning Specialist team. (This includes a wide range of
students, some of whom need extra help academically, others who
could use reinforcement of their social, executive functioning or
advanced learning goals.) All of our students benefit from
low student teacher ratios and exceptionally expert, engaged
teachers who are well-prepared to innovate approaches to teaching
that reach a diverse audience.
We review each piece of the completed
application thoughtfully and do not weigh any one
requirement more than another. We work to piece together a
holistic view of where your child is today and whether or not our
program, which has limitations like any school, is prepared to
serve them well in reaching their unique potential going
forward.
How do I know if Country Day is the school for my child and our
family?
The best way to get to know us is to come and see us! Whether for
an admission or community event, a Toddler Story Hour or a
private tour of campus, there is no way to fully capture the
magic of our school in words so we warmly encourage you to
register for an admission event or schedule a tour and come
experience the vibrancy and joy of Country Day up close.
When can my child begin at Country Day? In what grades do you
accept new students? Are there age requirements?
We accept new students to any grade level in which we have
available space. Like many independent schools, all of our
teachers are adept at integrating new students into their class
communities whether it be a midyear transfer or a fall start. The
admission office will disclose to you upon receiving your inquiry
whether or not the grade to which you are applying currently has
open seats.
We find that students best prepared to join us in Pre-K typically
turn four by the September of the year they begin school. We
do not use a date-specific age cut-off but rather rely on our
application process, which includes an admission playdate and
one-to-one assessment to determine your child’s readiness to join
us. That being said, it is unusual that children are ready for
our five day per week, full-day Pre-K program before age four.
There have been exceptions to this, however they are few and far
between.
The same logic applies for Kinder entrance. Most students
prepared to join us turn five by the fall of the year they would
begin school and have been in a rich, engaging learning
environment before joining us (which could be a home or
school-based environment.)
Is Sacramento Country Day School formally affiliated with other
Country Day schools across the nation?
Sacramento Country Day School is a private, non-profit,
independent school. While we are not a part of a chain of
schools, we are linked collegially with some by a uniformly
rigorous accreditation and membership in highly regarded
professional associations. Some discerning families ask about a
school’s accreditation as it tends to define aspects of academic
rigor and expectation. Members of the National Association of
Independent Schools share general philosophies unique to
independent schools and are distinguished by their high-level
programs. Members of the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges and the California Association of Independent Schools
undergo a rigorous school-wide self-study and site visitation,
earning a maximum six-year accreditation. Sacramento Country Day
School currently enjoys a six-year accreditation through CAIS and
WASC.
