Registration/Enrollment Forms

ENROLLMENT FOR THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR IS NOW OPEN! Open Enrollment for the 2023-2024 School Year will begin February 15, 2023!

In order to register your child for preschool, all of the following must be turned in together: registration form, all completed enrollment forms(see below to download the forms, or fill out online), registration fee, tuition payment (if applicable), current immunization form #3231 and copy of birth certificate. If you are registering online, you may pay your enrollment fee through Online Giving, or you can bring a cash or check to the Front Office. Please be sure to turn in your current immunization form #3231 and copy of birth certificate by the first day of school. If these items are not received by then, your child will not be able to attend until the Director has received them.

Our Age Requirement Policy requires that a child be the age of that class by September 1st. No exceptions will be made. Why can’t we be flexible with this date?

It is the policy of the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Catholic Schools.

Our main purpose at St. James Preschool is to provide an educational foundation for each child so they will have long term success in their entire school career.

Research shows that play-based learning develops a child’s independence, maturity, vocabulary, curiosity, problem-solving skills, gross and fine motor skills, and social and emotional well-being.
Children may excel academically, but this does not mean they are socially and emotionally ready to advance in preschool.
With regards to moving from 3’s to 4’s, children must be able to pay attention to the teacher, follow directions, and obey rules, all of which require a degree of maturity, as well as social and emotional development. Children are expected to sit and listen to stories, stay focused on a task, and understand the difference between work and play.
Physical readiness includes gross and fine motor skill development, as well as physical size. If a child starts school early, he or she may not have the fine motor skills to hold a pencil properly, the ability to write correctly, or the hand strength and coordination needed to cut with scissors. To learn more about the development of gross and fine motor skills, please see the GELDS standards here: http://www.gelds.decal.ga.gov/ and here: https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-fine-motor-skills-2162037
Older children are the leaders of our Preschool. Learning leadership skills at a young age is highly beneficial in a child’s development and helps children excel and continue to display leadership when they get to “big kid school”.
When children of varying ages are in the same class, developmental learning levels are not the same. When appropriate social and emotional development skills are not met, it is more difficult for a child to interact appropriately with other children.
When all skills are obtained before moving to the next level, children gain confidence when performing and developing new tasks.

To honor the integrity of the age-at-entrance policy, we will not make exceptions for children that do not make the cut-off date. Allowing them to experience repeating a year will only benefit them as they reach developmentally appropriate learning levels through age-appropriate experiences.