Application 2025-2026

Thank you for your interest in applying to Families Together Cooperative Nursery School! This application should take about 10 minutes to complete. If you need help completing the application please contact us at admissions@ftcns.org.
• Families Together Cooperative Nursery School (FTCNS) is a non-sectarian school that admits, welcomes, and nurtures children and families with different abilities, family structures, socio-economic levels, and cultural, ethnic, linguistic, gender, religious, racial, and other social identities. We endeavor to balance the following priorities in our approach to admissions:
  
  1. Giving students an equal chance to attend FTCNS and avoiding admissions processes that individually evaluate students or their families or give priority admissions to certain students in a non-transparent way.
  
  2. Constructing and maintaining a diverse school community that celebrates and reflects the differences in students’ and families’ social identities and reflects the demographics of our surrounding community.

• FTCNS offers priority enrollment to returning students and siblings. In order to keep the admissions process impartial and open to all families, FTCNS admits new students through a blind lottery. The blind lottery is conducted after returning student/sibling enrollment is completed. Once lottery numbers have been assigned, we make every effort to give families their first choice of class/classes in lottery order, while attempting to balance for diverse classes.  

 

IMPORTANT: Once the information portion of your application is complete and signed, you will be directed to pay the application fee securely via PayPal. This is for New Families only (see below for further details). if you prefer, you may submit a check payable to "FTCNS."

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NEW FAMILIES: A non-refundable $50.00 fee is required for new FTCNS families to complete this application. One application fee per family, not per child.

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RETURNING FAMILIES: The application fee is waived for returning families.

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FEE WAIVER: The application fee may be waived on a case-by-case basis due to financial hardship. If this is the case, please contact us.

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Applications for new families will NOT be considered complete unless accompanied by the application fee or appropriate fee waiver.

By signing below, I indicate understanding and acceptance of the following.

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If my child is accepted to FTCNS, I understand that:

• At least one adult from my child’s family is required to assist in my child’s classroom on a regularly scheduled basis. This adult cannot bring children other than the enrolled student when they assist. The assisting adult must have all required paperwork on file to participate.

• One adult from my child’s family is required to serve on a school committee, the Board of Directors, or participate in a committee buy-out.

• All families are expected to work within their means to help sustain the co-op by participating in all-school meetings and activities, participating in fundraising initiatives, and helping to recruit new families.

• If my child is not already using the toilet independently, I will work with my child towards the goal of toilet training. The FTCNS diaper changing facilities are limited and the classes are designed to give children lots of opportunities to use the bathroom. I understand that if a child is not developmentally ready, FTCNS is able to accommodate children in parent-provided diapers/pull-ups. I'm aware that participation in Lunch Bunch and some enrichment activities require independent use of the bathroom.

• In order to protect the health of all families, FTCNS strongly encourages all families to fully vaccinate their children. My child will need to be up-to-date with all immunizations in accordance with the immunization schedule from the Illinois Department of Public Health unless I provide a doctor's note of exemption or a letter requesting religious exemption from immunizations.

• The $50.00 application fee and $500.00 deposit are non-refundable. No exceptions.