Enrollment Policy
Rancho Essentialist School is recognized as an alternative/specialized school under Novato Unified School District Board Policy 6181 and has a district-wide attendance area. Novato residents are welcome and encouraged to attend.
- Parents/Guardians are required to participate in a formal tour of the school, unless they have had a student enrolled at Rancho within the past 3 years. Tours can be arranged by calling the school office at 897-3101. Spanish translation is available on request.
The purpose of the tour is to provide parents/guardians with a chance to learn about the Essentialist Program and to evaluate Rancho's program relative to your family's educational goals. Tours are scheduled in the mornings and take about 1 ½ -2 hours. Tours are led by the Principal and a PTA parent. Tours are for parents/guardians, please no children.
Kindergarten Registration
- Following a tour, parents/guardians wishing to participate in the kindergarten lottery must complete and sign a Rancho Essentialist School application form and bring the application to the kindergarten lottery.
- Siblings of Rancho students currently enrolled in grades K-4 may take advantage of the sibling kindergarten enrollment window and can be enrolled in the December 1st through 15th enrollment period. This priority enrollment window, if taken advantage of, secures kindergarten enrollment for the sibling before the balance of the enrollment openings are made available to kindergarten students who are new to Rancho. Siblings of Rancho students entering kindergarten that are not enrolled during the December 1st through 15th enrollment window must be placed in the January lottery along with kindergarten students new to Rancho. The sibling enrollment preference is valid only for kindergarten registration during the December 1st through 15th enrollment window. If the December 15th deadline falls on a day that the Rancho school office is closed, the deadline will be extended to close of business on Rancho's next school day.
- A kindergarten lottery will be held to fill the balance of the openings. The parent/guardian (or their designee) must attend a meeting on a Saturday to be determined in January at 9:00 a.m. in the Rancho multi-use room. There, the parent/guardian will exchange their application for a numbered ticket. A ticket will be drawn in a random and equitable manner to establish the list of students who will be enrolled for the following school year. This lottery also determines the grade level waiting list. This waiting list remains valid and rolls forward from year to year.
- Parents who secure admission for their child must complete the appropriate forms by May 1st in order to be enrolled for the following school year. All future enrollments will be determined by the waiting list established at the lottery.
- Any student wishing to enroll in kindergarten after the lottery has taken place will be added to the end of the lottery-established waiting list.
Registration for Grades
1-5:
- Following a tour, parents/guardians wishing to enroll
their children must complete and sign a Rancho Essentialist
School application form and give it to the Office Manager.
If a space is available, parents/guardians will need to
file the appropriate forms in order to become enrolled.
If space is not available, the application will be put at
the back of the appropriate grade level waiting list.
Vacancies (all grades)
- When a vacancy occurs, the office will notify the parent/guardian of the first child on the waiting list. The parent/guardian will have 3 business days to respond to that opening; failure to respond results in removal from the waiting list. If the parent/guardian accepts the opening he/she must complete the appropriate forms in order to enroll. If the parent/guardian decides not to accept that opening, the parent/guardian will have the option of placing their child at the end of the waiting list (1 time only) or may elect to drop the child from the waiting list. Vacancies occurring after the spring break will be filled at the beginning of the next school year.
- Each grade
has its own independent waiting list that remains valid
from year to year. Waiting list placement order is initially
determined by the kindergarten lottery and added to as applications
are received in the Rancho Essentialist School office. This
waiting list will roll forward each year with students maintaining
their position on the waiting list. Once a waiting list
is established its order cannot be changed. Vacancies will
be filled by placement order on the waiting list.
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