SEE UPDATED APPLICATION INFORMATION AND CANCELLATIONS FOR COVID-19 BELOW:

2020-2021 Pre-K Registration Process

Update 7/15: All first-round acceptance and waitlist letters have been mailed! As spots are accepted or declined, applicants from the waitlist will be contacted. Thank you for your patience.

Apply by June 5, 2020 - Open application season is now closed. Please see below for consideration for the program.

Waitlist-Only Period—June 15 through October 31 Pre-Kindergarten applications are taken from June 15 through October 31 for the waitlist for the 2020-2021 school year. To apply please follow the procedures below. Applicants are called for application screening sessions as needed to verify eligibility criteria. If you become first on a school’s waitlist, you will be contacted as seats are declined or forfeited. At that time, you will be required to complete the next steps to secure your seat. Our family engagement specialists will help you with that process when you are the first person on the list.

Step I—

• Families enter information into the online Supplemental Questionnaire by clicking on this link to determine if they are tentatively eligible or ineligible for Pre-K. A notification email is sent to families by our Pre-K team with instructions for Phase II.
  
  If a family does not have access to the internet, they may call and leave a message at the Pre-K Registration Help Line at (757)-263-1614. A member from the Pre-K office will contact them to complete the questionnaire and Phase II of the process.

Step II—

• The Pre-K team will contact eligible families to set up virtual appointments (or other methods of communication) to verify information and confirm eligibility when spots are available. Families in high-priority school zones which have openings and/or families with greater need will be called first. Once eligibility is determined, placement on the waitlist is automatic.

Step III—

• Starting in late July, families of students who are placed in a class will receive letters from VBCPS to inform them of placement Families are provided with instructions and a list of documents to take to their assigned school to complete registration with the school registrar. If placement occurs after orientation meetings or after the school year begins, a family engagement specialist will meet with the family at the school to complete the registration process.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools offers a Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) program to children with the greatest need at many elementary schools. Pre-Kindergarten is a full-day program that follows the VBCPS school calendar and school hours. The Pre-K program provides children with purposeful learning experiences to prepare them for a successful transition to kindergarten while also creating a strong educational foundation. Through the implementation of a developmentally-appropriate, hands-on curriculum, students will be engaged in learning literacy with a focus on phonemic awareness, language enrichment, letters/sounds, decoding and beginning reading and writing; numeracy with a focus on numbers and number sense; and social/emotional development. The program develops students’ communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills and integrates technology to support learning.

Eligibility

The Pre-K program is funded through the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) and Title I grants awarded to the school division. Acceptance into the program is not on a first-come, first-served basis, and a limited number of Pre-Kindergarten spots are available.

Children must be 4 years old on or before Sept. 30 of the upcoming school year and reside in Virginia Beach, VA. There are no exceptions to age and residency requirements. In addition, students are selected based on the following VPI eligibility criteria and identified risk factors:

• Family income (based on Federal Poverty Guidelines);
• Parents have not completed high school;
• Families lacking fixed, regular or adequate housing (homelessness); and
• The child has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and Pre-K being the most appropriate setting

Other factors are also considered but have lower risk values.

Documentation: What to Bring to the School if Placed

Please fill out the application below to bring with you to the school if you receive a letter placing your child in the program. This form is also available at any VBCPS elementary school. If you are unable to bring the form with you, the school can provide one for you to complete when registering:

• A photo ID
• Current lease/mortgage agreement
• Current utility bill (gas, electric or water bill)
• Child’s certified birth certificate (original document)
• A copy of a current Physical/immunization examination report completed within one year prior to the start of the Pre-Kindergarten school year. (All students who are accepted to the program must provide this report to the school if it is not available at the application session to complete registration.)

You may also need (if applicable):

• VBCPS Shared Housing form --Shared housing situations where a family lives in another person’s home without a lease or rental agreement require:
  • The VBCPS Shared Housing Form, signed and notarized
  • Lease/mortgage of homeowner (copy for file)
  • Your driver’s license showing the current address (copy for file)
  • Current utility bill of homeowner (copy for file)
• Individualized Education Program (IEP)
• Court ordered custody documents
• Custody Registration Form (for anyone assigned custody other than the biological parents)
• Kinship Care Form (required if an adult relative is providing care to the child without assigned custody)

When a student is placed, that student must start within three days of the placement. Because the seat must remain filled, all necessary documentation must be provided within the three days.

Pre-Kindergarten Classroom Sites

The classroom sites for the 2020-2021 school year will be located in the following schools:

Eligible students who live within the attendance zone of a school with Pre-K classes are considered first.

Transportation

Bus transportation is available if you live within the Pre-K school zone. If you live outside the Pre-K school’s zone, you will have to provide on-time, daily transportation to the school. Occasionally, cluster buses will be available for out-of-zone students, but those change yearly based upon registration and are not available for every school zone. If you are out of zone, please expect to provide transportation.

Contact Information

While schools remain closed because of COVID-19 concerns, call the Pre-K Registration Help Line at (757)-263-1614 or email VBPre-Kinfo@vbschools.com with questions regarding the VBCPS Pre-Kindergarten program.

Follow us on Twitter at Virginia Beach Pre‐K (@VBPre‐K).