BELCHERTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ANNOUNCES PRESCHOOL SCREENING REGISTRATION FOR ROLE MODEL PEERS
The Belchertown Public Schools Integrated Early Childhood Program is inviting families to register their three and four year old children for a preschool screening to be role model peers for school year 2019-2020. Applications are currently available at Cold Spring School located at 57 South Main Street, Belchertown, MA. Interested parties may pick up an application Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. All applications must be returned to Cold Spring School. When you return the application your child will be scheduled for a screening.
To be eligible for preschool:
- Students must be 3 or 4 years old on or before September 1, 2019
- Students must be completely toilet trained
Should the number of applications exceed the number of open spaces, students will be placed on a waiting list.
If you have any questions, please call Cold Spring School, 413-323-0428
The Integrated Early Childhood Program in the Belchertown Public School district is a language-based, developmental preschool program for students ages 3-5 with and without special education needs. The program is designed for students to learn together in a play-oriented setting in which non-special education needs students act as role models for students who have been identified with special education needs. The integration of students has shown to improve the progress of students with special needs in various areas of development including language, social/emotional, and self-help skills. Programmatically, most therapies are integrated into the classroom setting to help maximize each child’s ability to generalize the skills they are acquiring within the classroom environment alongside their peers. Within the Integrated Early Childhood Program, both students with and without special education needs will practice building the important social and academic skills necessary for kindergarten.
Throughout the school year, the Early Childhood Program will run for 2 ½ hours daily Monday-Friday with morning (8:30-11:00) and afternoon (12:15-2:45) classes offered. With exceptions of opening and closing dates, the Program follows the Belchertown Public Schools calendar for school vacations, holidays, and professional development days. When the Belchertown Public Schools are closed for inclement weather, the Pre-Kindergarten program is also closed.
To be eligible for a peer slot in the Integrated Early Childhood Program, students must be toilet trained, 3 as of September 1, 2019, a Belchertown resident (must be able to provide proof of residency), and must have participated in one of the offered PreK screenings.
For more information about Early Childhood Education, please click the link below.
Mass. Dept. of Education Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experience