Noreen Walton-Valle is a mom of four and the Director of Marketing and Admissions at Saint Clement School, which is located in Lincoln Park. It is a Catholic school, educating students from PreK 3 through 8th grade, with two classes per grade level, and roughly 480 students total. In an NPN discussion panel, Noreen spoke with us about the private school application process. We’re sharing some of her valuable insight here.
When should parents start researching schools and how should they start?
I would recommend a year out if you're starting preschool or thinking about transferring from one school to another. It just allows you time to look at the schools, attend open houses, talk with other parents, and then also do the application and admissions process.
When you're looking at either starting preschool or transferring, identify your educational priorities. Do you want faith based? Do you want a private school education? Are you looking for a specific curriculum? Are you looking for certain programs to be offered?
Then I would recommend going to the school’s website and social media accounts. That is a great way to get a feel for the school community. Attend the open houses and talk with the parents and students that you meet during the open house. Ask parents why they chose that school. Are they happy with their experience? What grades are their children in? At what grade did they start at the school? Did they transfer in or did they start in preschool? The students are a wealth of knowledge as well.
What is the application process at Saint Clement?
The application process at Saint Clement is a little different depending on what grade you are applying for. Our application is on our website, and our application is due January 15th, 2025. We send out notifications mid February.
For early childhood, pre k 3 through kindergarten, parents submit the application. It is always nice to include a letter of recommendation. I or principal Fink, or a pastor might then schedule an interview with the family. We just do random selections for early childhood since we have so many applications. Once a family is accepted, there is a mandatory play date in April.
Families applying with children in 1st through 8th grade fill out the application and provide the child’s past two years of report cards and standardized test scores. If they don't have standardized test scores, that's okay, we can talk through that. The child’s current teacher also fills out a teacher feedback form and returns it to us. After everything has been submitted, we will schedule a shadow day for the child that would be a whole day at Saint Clement. After the shadow day, then we will set up an interview with myself and principal Fink and the family, so we can get to know the family and student a bit better and make sure it is a good fit for everyone.
Thank you, Noreen!
For more information about researching and applying to private schools, access the full panel discussion or browse through all of NPN’s school search videos and resources.
