Finding the right school for your child is a process. You will want to read about the school, talk to any friends who are involved in the school and, most important of all, visit the school.

The first step in finding out about Indian Creek is to request an information packet. We will be happy to send you a packet containing a brochure, the fee structure and an application. The packet, in conjunction with this web site, should answer most of your general questions about the school.

In order to get a true sense of Indian Creek School, you should come for an Admission Tour. An Admission Tour includes a personal meeting which focuses on your child, a tour of the building and the classrooms, and a discussion of the curriculum. It provides an opportunity to share aspects of the program that might enrich the child's education or your specific issues pertinent to your child.

This visit is no less important if the child for whom you are seeking admission is a teenager than if he or she is a four year old. Every school has a different "school climate." If you visit two or three schools, you will notice that each "feels" different. You know your child best and you will quickly develop a sense of whether a school is the right match or not.

If you have not had a chance to schedule an Admission Tour, or if you would like a second look, you might want to attend our fall Open House.

• The initial point of entry for Indian Creek Students is at the pre-kindergarten level for four year olds.
• Children must be four years old by August 31st.
• We also have major points of entry at grade six and at grade nine. At each of these levels, we open new sections and accept students in addition to those moving up from our own lower grades.
• There are scattered openings available throughout the program due to attrition, but it is very difficult to assess how frequently those openings will occur and at which grade levels. These are handled on a case by case basis.
• Once an opening occurs, students spend a day at ICS, part of which includes admission testing

Admission at the Early Childhood Level

For the early childhood program, students are considered for entry on a first come, first served basis. This is a decision that is rooted in our philosophy. We believe that all young children can learn and grow and have something to contribute to our program. We believe we have no moral right to search for (and no way to define) the "best" four year olds. These young children are evaluated in January to assess probable readiness for school and are then offered admission based on the dates of their application. Some children are not ready or have problems that need early remediation. Our administrators share their conclusions and make suggestions when it is felt we can't work effectively with a child.

Please don't ask about your child's place on the waiting list. We don't keep such lists in numerical order. Keeping such lists (and making them public) only serves to increase an unhealthy anxiety among parents. Young families are highly mobile and there is much movement even after families have been on the lists for years. Please bear with us. In January of each year, we check our applications and contact people in order of the dates of application to invite them to the evaluation sessions. We keep moving through the applications until we have have invited a sufficient number of applicants. We work as hard as possible to make the process fair to everyone.

Admission at the Middle School/High School Level

For middle school and high school, there are test days during which students are tested in small groups. We use standardized tests and writing samples that are also used in our school with our own student body. This way, we can do "real" comparisons with average scores of students already enrolled at that grade level.

After the tests have been scored, each student's tests are placed in his or her admission folder with the records and recommendations from the previous school. The admission folder also contains the application form, a parent questionnare and, in the case of high school students, the student's own comments on the application. These folders are circulated in random order among faculty members and administrators who are on the admission committee. The committee looks at each student's folder to try to determine if the youngster can be successful here at Indian Creek. The members do not compare applicants to each other or deal with any kind of ordered sequence. They simply look at each folder and judge the likelihood of success as best they can from the data. Completed folders are returned to the Admission office where they are placed in order based on application date.

This system has been designed to be as fair as possible to the greatest number of candidates.