Admissions
Admissions Process
How to Apply:
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Step 1: Inquire & Visit
Carlthorp requires students to be five years of age by September 1st of the year they enter. Parents who wish to apply for their children’s admission to Carlthorp School should fill out an Inquiry Form below and follow the instructions therein.If you are inquiring regarding Kindergarten admission for the 2024-2025 school year, we will schedule tours and interviews when school commences in early September. Please feel free to complete the Inquiry Form below and respond to the confirmation email to schedule your appointment. Early scheduling of appointments is welcome.
If you are inquiring regarding admission to Grades 1 - 6 for the 2024-2025 school year, we invite you to fill out and submit the Inquiry Form below. Following submission, you will receive an email with further instructions for setting up your tour and interview with a member of our Admissions Team. Upon conclusion of that conversation, an online application will be made available to you.
Step 2: Apply
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Complete an Online Application - Kindergarten
At the conclusion of an interview with a member of our Admissions Team, you will be given access to our online application, which will ask for information about your child and your family, a current family photo (optional), and permission to access your child’s current school records and other relevant student information. In order for your application to be considered complete, we also require a copy of a birth certificate or passport, a preschool recommendation, and two personal letters of recommendation. Once you have submitted your completed application form, you will receive an email confirmation directing you to the Applicant Checklist to guide you through the next steps of our process. -
Applications for Grades 1-6
For families with children interested in grades other than Kindergarten, we have a rolling Admissions process. Please refer to the Admissions Timeline for specific additional information. Once an application is on file, we will notify you when we know we have an opening in the appropriate grade. At that time, you will be invited to bring your child for a tour of the school and a readiness assessment. Before meeting your child, we will request that you notify his/her current school that we will be contacting them for official school records.
Final Steps: Additional Visits
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Readiness Assessment - Kindergarten
Carlthorp School's admissions/assessment process will remain in compliance with COVID-19 safety guidelines. Please rest assured that our intent is to get to know your child and to make the assessment experience safe and comfortable for all. In mid-November, we will be in touch to share our plans and assign your child’s assessment date.
If we remain unable to visit your child at their current school, the preschool recommendation form will continue to be very important. Please be sure to submit this form to your preschool in a timely manner, and follow up in your admissions checklist to be sure your sending school has returned the form to us by our January 12, 2024 due date.
A basic readiness assessment is a routine part of Carlthorp School’s application process for every candidate, and typically unfolds as below. Health guidelines permitting, our process will be as follows:
The assessment takes place on a Saturday morning on campus. You should plan to be here with your child for approximately 90 minutes. Please do not let this process make your family or your child apprehensive; the day will be welcoming and comfortable for everyone. The week before your assessment day, we will send an email outlining the plan for your visit so that you can answer any of your child’s questions about how the process will unfold. Shortly after you arrive, our experienced faculty members will take your child into a classroom setting along with a small group of peers, while you enjoy an informative presentation delivered by our Head of School, Associate Head of School, and the Director of Admissions.
The assessment is just one of the opportunities we have to get to know your child. Aside from the assessment day, it is possible that a member of the Admissions Committee will visit your preschool to observe your child in the familiar setting of his or her own classroom. We do not visit every preschool every year. It is important to know that children who have not been observed at their preschool are often admitted to Carlthorp. Also, there is no one “feeder” preschool to Carlthorp; the most recent Kindergarten class was selected from twenty-five different preschools and fourteen different zip codes.
While our assessment process for the Kindergarten 2024 school year may be adapted from this plan, be assured the lenses with which we hope to get to know your child will remain. -
Prospective Parent Coffees - Kindergarten
Following the assessment day, you are welcome to attend one of our Prospective Parent Coffees, which may be held on campus or virtually this year. These panel discussions will showcase our outstanding Kindergarten teachers, current parents, school administrators, and our animated 6th grade students who will share their experiences by answering your questions about our school. You will be sent an email providing you with the opportunity to select a date to attend one of these Coffees. Please plan to come prepared with questions! -
Optional Visits
It is our hope that we will be able to welcome applicant families to visit campus for Flag Line or an additional brief revisit conversation with a second member of our Admissions Team. These opportunities are entirely optional. More information will be made available as your family engages in the admissions process.
Established in 1939, Carlthorp School is the oldest independent coeducational day school for grades K-6 located in Santa Monica, California.