Hello Families,

I hope you are all having an amazing summer! We are so excited to start a new school year with you and your child.

Over the summer there are several important things that need to be done before your child can begin school in September.

Submit your child’s medical forms, including flu shot records. Allergy and asthma documentation must also be provided, if applicable.
Complete your background check and fingerprinting
Set up your BrightWheel billing (checking account preferred)
Sign and return the Parent Permission Form (attached)
Sign and return the Family Handbook, photo release form, discipline policy, and Co-Op Participation Agreement, once they are made available
Ready your child’s school supplies

Medical Forms

Before the start of school I will need an updated medical form for every child. Your child's pediatrician has the form, but for reference, here is the form

The first page is for parents/guardians to fill out and sign, the remaining pages are for the physician to fill out and the immunization record must be attached.
If your child has asthma/allergies I will also need additional forms please let me know so I can make sure you have the correct paperwork.

A few additional details about immunizations.

Flu shots are required for children in preschool. Your child will need a flu shot by 12/31/23 to return to school in the new year. A reminder that there is no longer a religious exemption for vaccines, only approved medical exemptions. If your child has been vaccinated for COVID (not required) please be sure that is indicated on the immunization record.

Background Checks/Fingerprinting

The state requires all family members participating in a preschool classroom to be background checked and fingerprinted. If you completed this last year, there is no need to do it again.

There will be a communication coming asking for your full name, DOB, zipcode, and preferred email address. After I get that information I can check to see if you are in the system. If you are, GREAT! If you are not, I will use that email address to invite you to begin the background check process.

School Calendar, Parent Permission Form & Portal

For those who have not received a calendar, I will attach a copy to this email.
There is also a parental permission form attached that needs to be filled out and returned as well.
There is a Family Portal on the CNS website with a collection of forms and links if you misplace these, and the password is loveschool.

Billing & BrightWheel

At this point everyone should have received an invitation to join Brightwheel, our online platform for communication, billing, etc. If you have not, please respond to this email with the best email address to send the invite.

Once you are in Brightwheel, please fill out your child's personal information section. When you set up billing, please check to make sure that Sept. tuition was paid and that the security deposit was applied.
If you are setting up payment plans and do not have a preference between credit card and ACH transfer, please consider using ACH transfer as it saves our school a significant amount of money in absorbed fees.

School Communication

Please like and follow our school Instagram and Facebook page. We also have a private facebook group for current families. Families should use and interact with the private group as much as possible! This is a great way to coordinate and get to know one another.

Nearly all of the communication from the school will be done over Brightwheel, this is one of the few emails you will receive from me this year!

However, the majority of school activities are organized by parents and families. They will mostly use email to communicate with our school community. Please add theboard@guilfordcns.org and community@guilfordcns.org to your contacts to avoid emails going to spam.

School Supplies

For the first day of school, please make sure your child has the following (all labeled with the child’s name):

Indoor shoes
Nut-free snack
A water bottle
Appropriate outerwear, including outdoor shoes, and play clothing
An extra set of clothes in a labeled bag
Lunch, if staying for enrichment or a lunch program

A school bag will be provided at meet and greet.

If you need labels, please purchase them via Mabel’s Labels as a portion of the proceeds goes to CNS.

Clothes

Clothes should be school clothes. By which I mean play clothes. Play clothes need to be items that will get paint, dirt, water, and food all over them. Every day. Children are meant to explore and investigate the world around them and clothes need to make that possible, not be a barrier to that experience. Many of the art supplies we use are washable. Some are not. Some claim to be washable, but are not (I am looking at you, blue liquid watercolor). Please send your child to school in clothes that will allow them to have messy, sensory, and independent experiences. And that might mean you send them in high-end couture. That's fine! Just as long as you are comfortable with it coming home covered in blue liquid watercolor.

Shoes

The children will be wearing indoor shoes inside the building. These are soft soled shoes/slippers that they can put on themselves. This keeps our school cleaner, quieter, and helps foster independence and responsibility. Outdoor shoes need to be safe for climbing and playing outside. Rain and snow boots should be worn when the weather calls for it, as we do go outside in nearly all weather.

A few links for indoor shoes:

Accessories

Please limit the number of accessories worn to school. They can be distracting, lost, and sometimes hazardous.

Outerwear

Children spend time outside EVERYDAY. Unless the weather is dangerous, they will be outside. Time outdoors in nature is core to our mission, and children thrive in all weather. Please send your child with clothes appropriate for the temperature and predicted precipitation. Please label all outerwear!

Snack

All children eat snack at school, and snack is not provided by the school. A couple of pieces of advice:

Snack should be small! One or two items only. A granola bar. Strawberries and a string cheese. Fifteen course snacks are more than children can eat at that time.
We are fostering independence in our children. Snacks that they can open themselves are best. Many parents "start" the snack for their children (example: tearing the corner of the granola bar wrapper so a child can open it themselves).
Please send your child to school with a labeled water bottle that they can open and close on their own.
Our school is nut-free.

Lunch

If your child will be eating lunch at school, much of the same advice applies. Containers or packing that the child can open themselves (although teachers will always help!) Lunches are not refrigerated so cold packs work well if necessary.

Backpacks

This year we will be using cubby bags. This is a tote that will be given to your child so that they can carry everything that they need to and from school; their snack, lunchbox, water bottle, and artwork and projects home. We are switching from the type we used last school year. Your child will receive their bag at the meet and greet.

Dates

Teacher Meet and Greets - Sept. 5th and 6th. Invites coming in August!

First Day of School - Sept. 7th and 8th

There is a lot of information above, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. There is also a CNS family handbook that will come later this summer, as well as details about cooperative participation.

Enjoy the summer weeks ahead!

Sincerely,

Rachel Daniels, CNS Director