Question
· How many children do you serve?
· What are your hours of operation?
· Do you have openings?
· How do you get into the waiting pool?
· What are your registration and processing fees?
· What are your tuition fees?
· What if I want to take summers off, am I still responsible for tuition?
· Do you offer sibling discounts?
· Do you offer scholarships?
· Do you do fundraising in your program?
· What is the educational background of your teachers?
· Are your teachers trained in CPR?
· How do you select staff to work at the Growing Place?
· What is your sick child policy?
· How do enrolled parents receive information?
· Are you an accredited school?
Answer
· How many children do you serve?
* Ocean Park has 78 preschoolers 2.5 years and older.
* Marine Park has 12 infants, 19 toddlers and 21 preschoolers.
(Santa Monica residency or employment by the City apply to Marine Park spaces)
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· What are your hours of operation?
* Ocean Park: 7:30-6:00
* Marine Park: 7:30- 6:00
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· Do you have openings?
Not at this time. Most openings are filled the spring prior to the following September from our waiting pool. For more information, please refer to the admissions page for each campus.
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· How do you get into the waiting pool?
Register for a tour. Complete an application and submit the fee.
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· What are your registration and processing fees?
$75 per application. This fee may be waived for families applying for tuition assistance.
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· What are your tuition fees?
Tuition fees are based on teacher to child ratios and other actual costs. For the September 2010-August 2011 contract tuition fees until be :
1. Infants: $1625 monthly
2. Toddlers: $1370 monthly
3. Preschoolers: $1225 monthly
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· What if I want to take summers off, am I still responsible for tuition?
Yes. We offer only twelve-month contracts to both teachers and parents.
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· Do you offer sibling discounts?
No. Our costs remain the same for each child.
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· Do you offer scholarships?
Partial Tuition assistance is offered at Ocean Park from funds raised by the parents through DinoFair. At Marine Park partial tuition assistance is available to families who reside in Santa Monica and meet the income guidelines. To qualify both parents must be working full time. Families must verify income through a tax return and complete a tuition assistance request. Contact the office during the school tour for an application.
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· Do you do fundraising in your program?
Yes. Fundraising builds community and enables us to improve the learning environment for the children and teachers with new materials, documentation equipment, classroom upgrades etc. Raising funds supports children from low-income working parents and promotes diversity at the school. Fundraising enables us to offer special programs to all children including movement or music at no extra cost to individual parents. All parents are expected to participate in fundraising events at the level which is appropriate for their family.
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· What is the educational background of your teachers?
All of our teachers have degrees in early education or child development. In addition we offer training and expect our teachers to be engaged in ongoing education and professional development.
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· Are your teachers trained in CPR?
Yes. We renew our CPR training every two years.
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· How do you select staff to work at the Growing Place?
In addition to recruiting teachers with education and experience we look for teachers who are excited to learn, believe in the constructivist approach, are able to work well on teams, have good communication skills with parents, and enjoy young children. All employees are fingerprinted and must pass state requirements.
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· What is your sick child policy?
The health of children, as well as staff, is important to us so each child must arrive at school with no symptoms of illness. If your child should become ill while at school, you will be notified immediately to come pick him or her up, or make arrangements for another person to come and care for your child.
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· How do enrolled parents receive information?
Many ways! Teachers prepare daily reflection pages which document the children’s on going work and well as ordinary moments of life at school. These are posted for parents to read each evening and in addition are e mailed to parents. Our web page has a section reserved for parents. Room parents and the program administrators communicate using e mails. We host two Reggio parent teacher evenings and a number of individual classroom meetings during the year. Parent teacher conferences are held twice a year.
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· Are you an accredited school?
The Growing Place has been accredited by several times at both campuses. We are currently in the process of applying for re-accreditation under the new more comprehensive standards of The National Association for the Education of Young Children.
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