preschool experience
[sprouts]
preschool admission
As a micro-preschool in Champaign, IL, we are highly invested in our family-school fit;
our admissions process isn’t like other preschools.
STEP ONE : Review our website
Please start by reviewing our website. Since our school only has two employees (us!), we try to give you as much information as possible right here online.
If you find that you’d be interested in hearing about future openings or enrollment opportunities, fill out our interest packet: step two.
STEP Two : Interest Packet
what is an interest Packet?
An Interest Packet includes an Interest Application and an Introduction to Sprouts Preschool document.
An Interest Application is a short form that provides us with information we use for enrollment. This includes your child’s name and age, as well as your preferences for program options. It is neither a commitment nor obligation to enroll and there is no fee involved.
The Preschool Introduction document is some extra details about our school that you may be interested in.
How do I submit My Interest Application?
You will need to make a Brightwheel account. Brightwheel is our chosen childcare management system, which we use for many purposes – including messaging with prospective families!
How do I make an account?
Your Brightwheel account should be made under the parent/guardian contact name and a frequently used email address.
Your interest application should be as accurate as possible, especially the programs you might be willing to enroll in – if your family has changes, please submit a new one.
When can I submit my Interest Packet?
Whenever! We suggest as soon as possible, and we add families to our interest pools as soon as they submit their Interest Packet.
What happens when I submit?
When you have completed the Interest Application and read through our Preschool Introduction, your child will be entered into our Interest Pool for the start date, program, and schedule that you have indicated on your Interest Application. Then, you move on to step three!
STEP Three : Prospective Family Packet
what is a Prospective Family Packet?
Our Prospective Family Packet includes a much more extensive information questionairre, as well as our Preschool Policies document which goes into details about our contract, school rules, and guidelines.
How Do I submit our Prospective Family Packet?
In the exact same was as your Interest Packet - through Brightwheel! Just be sure to hit 'submit.'
Prospective Family Packet invitations will come through your Brightwheel account. You will receive an email from Brightwheel <support@mybrightwheel.com> with the subject: Sprouts has requested a Prospective Family Packet for (your child).
Clicking through the link in your email will take you to your Brightwheel account. As a note, our Prospective Family Packet may be easiest to complete on a computer.
When can i submit our Prospective Family Packet?
We invite families to submit Prospective Family packets any time we anticipate an opening during the school year, and during our enrollment period each year.
While we generally start our enrollment period in February/March for August start dates, our process can take as little as a few days to several months to complete (and we occasionally have openings outside of our enrollment period) – thus it is important that your Brightwheel account uses a frequently checked email account.
What happens when I submit our Prospective Family Packet?
As we receive submissions, we will interview the ‘first best fit’: step four.
Because of this, timeliness in submitting your Prospective Family Packet may be significant. We also often must put an end-date on our packet invitations to keep our enrolmment process as streamlined as possible.
As a very small school, we aren’t able to offer an interview to every family that completes an enrollment application.
STEP Four: Interview & Tour
What is the Interview & Tour Process?
The interview & tour is the only time we offer tours of Sprouts. We will tour the nature playground, the inside classrooms, and answer any questions that come up. We are generally looking to determine that everyone is comfortable and that Sprouts will be a good fit for the family.
How do Interviews work?
Interviews at Sprouts last 30 minutes and are held outside of school hours. We ask that the entire family – all parent(s)/guardian(s) and the child and siblings – attend.
When do we do the Interview & Tour?
When we determine that a family could be a good fit at Sprouts (based on answers in the Prospective Family Packet) and we have an opening that will suit their preferences, we will send another form invitation through Brightwheel - an Interview Request Form.
This form is a simple form offering dates and times that will work for your family to attend.
What happens after the Interview & Tour?
Following a successful interview we will request that the family consider if Sprouts will be a good fit and we will offer the child enrollment in a specific program and schedule: step five.
As a very small school, we aren’t able to offer enrollment to every family that interviews.
STEP Five: Enrollment Offer
Families will have 48-hours to accept an enrollment offer.
Following enrollment acceptance, families will complete an Enrollment Packet and pay an enrollment fee to become an official Sprouts family!
The entire admissions process at Sprouts is completed through the Brightwheel program, which can be accessed on any web browser as well as a phone app. Some forms may be easiest to access on a web browser.
