Age Requirements for Admission

It is the policy of Sandy Spring Friends School regarding school entry ages that:

• Applicants to Pre-Kindergarten must be four years old by September 1.
• Applicants to Kindergarten must be five years old by September 1.
• Applicants to First Grade must be six years old by September 1.

This policy is in keeping with:

• The Maryland State Department of Education guidelines and
• Our own educational philosophy. Since young children frequently have uneven development (intellectually, socially, physically, and emotionally), our admissions process is designed to evaluate the developmental readiness of applicants in each of those areas. It has been our experience that children born in the last third of the calendar year benefit from the gift of time.

Previous School Experience

We strongly recommend that applicants have some preschool experience before applying for our full-day program. It has been our consistent observation that young children make the transition to our 140-acre campus and our PK-12th grade community far more quickly and smoothly when they have prior classroom experience.