General Information
LOWER SCHOOL SCHEDULE
School Hours
| 3 & 4 year old | Monday to Friday | 8:30 a.m. -2:00 p.m. |
| Junior Kindergarten | 8:30 a.m. -2:45 p.m. | |
| After School Program | 2:00 p.m. -6:00 p.m. | |
| * (Time may be contracted or used as a drop-in if space is available.) | ||
LowerSchool Kindergarten- Grade 5 |
Monday - Friday | 8:00 a.m. -3:10 p.m. |
AfterSchool Program PreSchool - Grade 8 |
Monday - Friday | 3:10 p.m. -6:00p.m. |
Presence in class is an essential part of the learning process. It is nearly impossible for children who are absent to make up work and have the same understanding as those who were present in class. Students and their parents are reminded that regular attendance is important, no matter what the age of the learner.
A Typical School Day School officially begins at 8:00 a.m. with assembly or homeroom. At assembly, the whole Lower School gathers to share plays or other works they have done, receive awards or listen to a speaker. Morning homeroom, which includes "intentions" and prayer, is followed by reading, math, goûter (a snack and recreation), homeroom or special subjects, lunch, recreation and more homeroom or special subjects. The day ends at 3:10 p.m. Each individual grade schedule is given out on Lower School Parents' Night.
Arrival and Dismissal All children (K-5) should be in the school building before 8:00 a.m. and go directly to their lockers and homerooms. Students K-5 should not arrive before 7:30 a.m. and Pre-Schoolers should not arrive before 8:00 a.m. unless they arrangements have been made with the Pre-School Coordinator or Lower School Head.. Pre-Schoolers should use their entrance for their arrivals and departures. Pre-schoolers should be picked up by 2:00 p.m. , unless attending the afternoon programs. The After-School program ends at 6:00 p.m.
If your child needs to leave early, please send in a note to the homeroom teacher. You must come directly to the Lower School office to pick her up and sign out in the log.
Lower School dismissal is at 3:10 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., any Pre or Lower school children who have missed their bus or have not been picked up will be sent to the After-School Program. Parents will be notified. Students should know their dismissal plans for the day when they arrive in the morning. Play dates need to be arranged outside of the school day. Unless there is a true emergency in the change of dismissal plans and your child takes bus transportation, do not call with dismissal instructions.
Arrangements which are different from normal dismissal procedures should be made with your daughter the night before. While we are always happy to accommodate emergency or unanticipated situations, it is difficult to handle the volume of many phone messages on a daily basis.
PLEASE DO NOT CALL SCHOOL if you will be late in picking up your child. If you arrive after 3:30 p.m. you will need to come into school and pick your child up in the After School Program, and you will be charged accordingly. Fee information is provided each year at registraton in August. Students remaining at school after school hours must attend the After School Program.
School Closing Procedures: If school is already in session and closes early for other than inclement weather, class parents will be phoned by the school. They, in turn, will call all parents either at home or at work. A form with these specific emergency instructions needs to be completed and and given to the SPA representative for your child's class. SPA class parents will NOT be calling to notify you of school cancellation or delayed opening due to inclement weather. Stuart follows the Princeton Regional School System regarding school closing. You can obtain up-to-date information in the following ways:
- on our website at www.stuartschool.org
- by calling Stuart at (609) 921-2330 to hear the closing message
- on the following radio/TV stations:
- NEW JERSEY - WBUD (1260 AM), WHWH (1350 AM), WPST (94.5 FM) and WCTC (1450 AM)
- PENNSYLVANIA - WBCB (1490 AM) and WPVI - TV 6
Please be aware on days when weather is inclement that you need to check periodically to see if school is closing. Please plan to be available to come to get your child should the need arise.
Attendance, Lateness and Absences Parents are required to notify the School Nurse at ext. 248 if their child will be absent or late. A message may be left on her voice mail at any time. If the nurse has not been notified, she will call the parents. We appreciate your consideration in notifying us of the absence so that a call is not necessary. Requests for homework should be made when notifying the school of your daughter's' absence so that the teacher can have ample time to prepare the work. Please leave requests for homework on the teacher's voice mail and your child's work will be left at the Front Desk by 3:10 p.m. In the instance of a scheduled absence, written notice must be sent to her teacher prior to the absence and as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for preparation of work that will need to be completed. If a student needs to be dismissed early, please send a notice in writing to the homeroom teacher, in case of an early pickup.
Regular attendance and punctuality are keys to a student's academic success. Whenever possible, parents are asked to schedule dental and medical appointments after school hours, on Saturdays or during school vacations. A record of absences and tardiness is kept and noted on report cards. If a student is at school less than four hours on any given day, she is considered absent for that day.
Student Behavior Behavioral expectations are age appropriate and easily met by most children. If a Pre-School student has difficulty with group interaction, he/she is removed from the group to a designated time out area. In the Lower School, teachers are expected to resolve differences within the classroom setting. If necessary, a child will be sent to the office of the Head of the Lower School. Parents are contacted if behavior is not within acceptable limits.
LUNCH
K-1-2 Lunch/recess is from 11:20 a.m. until 12:20 p.m. Grades 3-4-5 Lunch/recess is from 12:15 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. Children in Grades K-5 may bring their lunch or subscribe to the student lunch program. You may choose to subscribe to the Food Service Program at any time throughout the year. All food service subscriptions will be prorated to the date of purchase. Every student has a debit account set up in the Food Service computer system. If you have not chosen to sign your daughter(s) up for the lunch plan, you may make a monetary deposit into her debit account to acctivate it which will enable your daughter to buy an occasional lunch when the need arises. Cash is not accepted for any food purchases. The food service menu is available for review on the Stuart website. If you have any questions about the Food Service please contact Sandy Harkness, Dining Service Manager at ext. 227.
EXTENDED CARE PROGRAMS
The Stuart After-School Program is open to students in the Pre and Lower School. It begins at 3:10 p.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. and consists of supervised play, activities and, for the older ones, homework time. All children who miss their bus or remain at school after 3:30 p.m. will be sent to the After-School Program. Parents will be charged accordingly.
Additional after school enrichment programs are offeredthroughout the school year. For more information on these programs, please contact Anne Pierpont, Assistant Headmistress at (609) 921-2330 or visit www.stuartschool.org.
SPECIAL INFORMATION
Emergency Contact Form: This form is found on the web in May. In addition to emergency contact information, it includes a General Permission to Leave Campus Form and an Emergency Closing Information Form. This form must be downloaded, signed and returned to Christine Doidge, School Nurse for the next school year in May. All forms must be returned by registration day in September before your child may start classes.
Visitors Policy: Any student who wishes to invite a friend to visit the Lower School or to attend classes should first ask permission of the appropriate School Head. If the friend is interested in applying to Stuart, contact the Admission Office before arranging the visit. For security reasons, students from other schools involved in after school activities are not allowed in any other areas of the building except where the activity is scheduled. They are also expected to abide by the school rules. In addition, students must fill out an emergency medical contact form, available from the Admission Office.
Field Trips: From time to time, field trips are scheduled for different classes. A notice will be sent home prior to each trip describing the details of the trip. Children wear their uniforms unless otherwise specified.
Lost and Found: "Found" articles are placed in a designated area. If names are in the articles, they can be returned directly to the owner's locker. Please encourage your children to be responsible with their belongings and to check the "Lost and Found" bin when missing an item. Unclaimed articles will be given to charity at the end of each month during the year. Every article of your child's clothing including socks, mittens, sweaters, boots, shoes,etc. must be labeled or marked.
School Parties: Parties for Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas and the end of the year are held at school in the classroom. Class Parents help to organize these parties with the homeroom teacher.
At Christmas time, there is a party at which the children exchange inexpensive gifts. Details of this party and our traditional holiday celebrations will be sent in early December.
If your child wishes to have a birthday party at school, we suggest cupcakes or cookies that can be served at goûter. Such parties should include the whole class and arrangements should be made with the homeroom teacher. Another way of celebrating your child's birthday is giving a "Birthday Book" of the child's choosing to the library with a special name plate inside indicating its donor.
Because we strive to foster Stuart's community spirit and we care deeply that the children not feel unwanted, invitations to parties held outside of school should not be distributed in school; favors received at parties should not be given out at school to a child who missed the party unless the whole class was invited; STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE PICKED UP AT SCHOOL TO ATTEND A PARTY UNLESS THE ENTIRE CLASS HAS BEEN INVITED.
School Pictures: A School Photographer takes individual and class pictures yearly at Stuart in the fall. Parents have the option to purchase the photos or not. The children should wear their plaid jumpers and white shirts on picture-taking day. Parents will be notified in advance of the date.
The Book Bag: There is a small shop at Stuart where the children can purchase school supplies, school bags, etc. It is open Thursday, 7:30 - 9:00 a.m. and again from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. and on Friday, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Communication in the Lower School: The News From the PreSchool/Junior Kindergarten and Pre & Lower School HIGHLIGHTS and monthly activity calendars are published on a bi-weekly schedule. They contain the weekly schedules and pertinent announcements. Parents should check these weekly for up to date information on class activities and events. An email will be sent to Stuart Pre & Lower School parents each time the newsletters are published with links attached for access. Please save the email to your "Desktop" or "Favorites" so that you can view the newsletters as often as you need to. Friday Folder comes home every week and is filled with important information from your child's classroom teacher.
We ask that if there is a problem with your child to please contact her teacher first. If the problem persists, feel free to contact Ms. Shukwit.