Admission

Choosing a school is one of the most important challenges that parents face. It is important that each prospective family learn as much as possible about Canterbury in order to make the best educational decision for their children.

Canterbury's mission is to develop the whole child by challenging the mind and nourishing the spirit in a diverse community guided by Judeo-Christian values. Canterbury's goal is to provide a program that engages children in a nurturing and spiritual environment. The program is academically challenging, with a strong emphasis on the development of character, morals, integrity, and sound values. The school seeks to attract a variety of students who demonstrate motivation and ability to respond to and be successful in the total school program, whose families value and support the school's mission and philosophy, and whose enrollment will enable the school to reflect the social, economic, racial, cultural, and religious mix of the broad community Canterbury seeks to serve. Special consideration is given to applicants who are siblings of current or former students, children of staff members, and children of alumni. Beyond this, admission decisions will be made from children in the applicant pool.

As a general rule, students admitted to kindergarten have reached the age of five by August 31st in the year in which they would like to attend. Applicants are closely evaluated for maturity level and readiness.

Admission Procedure

Admission decisions are made when the entire application process has been completed. The following is required to complete our admission process:

Application. An application for admission, accompanied by a non-refundable fee of $50, must be filed.

Tour/Open House Parents/guardian of each applicant are asked to attend an Open House to learn about the program, mission and philosophy of the school, and tour the campus with middle school students or admission staff. Appointments to tour the campus are available if you are unable to attend one of the scheduled Open Houses.

Observation/Classroom Visit. Applicants to kindergarten will be observed at Canterbury in small group settings during January and February. For first grade and above, observations (first grade) or a required classroom visit (second-eighth grades), by each prospective student will be scheduled for a day when school is in session. Children are asked to visit only if openings are available at their grade level.

School Records. Copies of all previous educational records (including report cards and standardized testing) must be filed with Canterbury. Transcript Release forms are available in the office. As a general rule, kindergarten applicants do not have a transcript. Canterbury reserves the right to arrange for or request further testing if the admission committee feels that more information would be beneficial for the decision making process.

Teacher Evaluation Forms. Evaluation forms (provided by Canterbury) must be completed by previous or current teachers and sent to Canterbury.

Notification

Enrollment contracts will be issued upon determination of acceptance. Once the signed contract and the $600 tuition deposit are received, the student is officially enrolled.

Applicant Wait Pool

After a grade level is filled, the school will maintain an applicant wait pool of admissible students. Students in this pool will not be ranked. If a space becomes available the entire pool for the grade level will be considered to choose the most appropriate child for the space. Keeping the mission and philosophy of the school in mind, choices are made based on the qualities of the candidate and the nature of the specific class, with the goal of providing the best educational experience for both the individual student and for the class as a whole.

Financial Assistance

Canterbury is dedicated to the principle that qualified students should be able to attend the school regardless of ability to pay. Therefore, Canterbury sets aside a pool of funds from its operating income to provide grants up to 90% of tuition and fees per child. These grants are awarded on a need basis. For the 2007-08 year  $443,919 was awarded to 19% of the student body. Families in need of information regarding the financial assistance process should contact the Director of Admission or the Head of School.

Admission decisions are made separately from financial assistance decisions.