Frequently Asked Questions

We recommend that children begin preschool in the year that they are turning 3. Our school has a very limited number of spaces for children under the age of 3, so if your child’s birthday is after September and they are accepted to the program, they may have to wait until they turn 3 to start attending preschool.

Our preschool program is 3 hours a day, 4 days a week (Monday to Thursday) from either 8:30-11:30AM (Morning class) or 12:30-3:30PM (Afternoon class). We have a very limited amount of full day spaces (8:30am – 3:30pm).

We find that the children are most happy and successful when they attend the program four days a week.

Our Preschool admissions begin in the January of the calendar year that your child turns 3. We can forward applications to the following year, but the responsibility is on the parents to keep in touch with our admissions staff to let us know that you are still interested in continuing on with your application if you apply earlier than the start of the admissions process.

In January, our current Preschool students and siblings of our current Preschool and Elementary students are given the opportunity to pre-register for the following school year. Once we have these pre-registrations in, we have a good idea of how many spaces we have available for families who are new to WMA.

We have an Open House in late January that is a great opportunity for families to visit the school, meet the teachers, and learn a little more about the Montessori classroom. After the Open House, parents can sign up for a 15 minute observation of our current classroom (we ask that parents find alternate childcare for their little ones during this observation to give them a better chance to observe the classroom culture without having to worry about what their child is doing).

By late February, we send out letters and emails to let parents know if their application has been successful. Once a family receives a letter of offer for a space, there is a deadline to secure the space with a parent agreement form and pre-payment of a small amount of the school fees.

Families who’s applications have not been successful in this first round are placed on a wait-list and notified should a space becomes available.

Admission to WMA Preschool is not done on a first-come, first-served basis. We aim to have a good balance of boys and girls, and 3 and 4 year olds in each group. Keep in contact with us periodically and be nice (!) and we do our best to place your child if we can.

We have an Open House in late January that is a great opportunity for families to visit the school, meet the teachers, and learn a little more about the Montessori classroom. After the Open House, parents can sign up for a 15 minute observation of our current classroom. We ask that parents find alternate childcare for their little ones during this observation to give them a better chance to observe the classroom culture without having to worry about what their child is doing.

Children in the AM and PM class have outside playtime in the fenced in playground adjacent to the Preschool for the last 15-20 minutes of the session.

Children in the full day program bring a packed lunch. They go outside for about half an hour, then come in and eat lunch, clean up and have a rest time with their own cot, blanket and pillow. Children are encouraged to nap or rest for about half an hour.