Preschool Home

Program Description

Curriculum

Registration & Tuition

Online Registration

Download Registration Form

For questions about Saint Joseph Preschool, please contact:

Melissa Cowden
Director
(574) 234-3134, Ext. 24
mcowden@stjoeparish.com

Victoria Gutschenritter
Parish Administrative Assistant
(574) 234-3134, Ext. 10
vritter@stjoeparish.com

Saint Joseph Parish is committed to providing high quality preschool programming that advances our mission of Catholic education in the heart of South Bend. A preschool planning committee was established in August 2012, by Rev. John DeRiso, C.S.C., pastor of Saint Joseph Parish, to explore the necessary preconditions and make recommendations for establishing a preschool at Saint Joseph Parish.

On January 8, 2013, it was announced that the Saint Joseph Preschool would open in the fall of 2013, and be located in the new Ackles Center at 711 Colfax Avenue. The preschool will operate independently of Saint Joseph Grade School and enrollment in the preschool will have no effect on admission into the grade school. There will be no correlation insofar as gaining an advantage from attending the preschool or suffering a disadvantage from not attending the preschool when it comes to grade school registration.

Saint Joseph Preschool will be located in the new Ackles Center at 711 Colfax Avenue, directly across St. Louis Blvd. from the current Saint Joseph Parish Center. The preschool will operate during the traditional academic year, generally following the Saint Joseph Grade School calendar. There will not be a summer program at this time.

Saint Joseph Preschool will enroll children ages three and four before August 1 of the current year. The preschool will operate two classrooms:

Classroom 1: all-day three and four year olds, up to 18 children. 

Each classroom will have a lead teacher and an assistant teacher. 

All-day hours are 8am to 3pm. The schedule runs Monday through Friday.

Half-day hours are 8am to 11am. For the half-day classroom, parents have the option of selecting either a Mon-Wed-Fri or a Tues-Thur schedule.

There is no extended-day program at this time; one may be added if there is enough interest. Please indicate your interest on the online or paper registration form linked below.

Seeking to provide a high quality program on par with the high quality education provided at Saint Joseph Grade School, Saint Joseph Preschool will adopt the HighScope Early Childhood education program and register as a Child Care Ministry with the State of Indiana with the goal of becoming a Voluntary Certification Program.

HighScope is a model preschool program based on the ground-breaking research of the Perry Preschool Experiment. HighScope is well regarded in research communities for its child-centered, standards-based approach to early childhood education, and consistently demonstrates evidence of lifelong academic, social, and behavioral success for children from all backgrounds. Additionally, faith development and religious education can easily be incorporated into the standard HighScope curriculum. Saint Joseph Preschool will receive mentoring, teacher training, evaluation, and classroom setup by local High Scope evaluators from the Family Connections non-profit organization.

Eligibility: Children must turn three or four before August 1 of the year of enrollment. Enrollment priority will be determined by the Pastor and will be assessed similar to enrollment priority for Saint Joseph Grade School (starting with registered and active members of Saint Joseph Parish). 

The preschool will operate independently of Saint Joseph Grade School and enrollment in the preschool will have no effect on admission into the grade school. There will be no correlation insofar as gaining an advantage from attending the preschool or suffering a disadvantage from not attending the preschool when it comes to grade school registration.

Registration: Registration for the 2013 school year will take place beginning February 11. You may either register online or complete a paper registration form and return it to the Saint Joseph Parish Center.

A non-refundable registration fee of $75 per student ($100 max per family) is due along with the application. Checks should be made out to Saint Joseph Church and delivered to Victoria Gutschenritter at the Saint Joseph Parish Center, 226 N. Hill St., South Bend, IN 46617. Please indicate "preschool registration" in the memo line of the check.

Registration will occur on a first come, first served basis after March 15. Please contact Preschool Director Melissa Cowden with any questions.

Tuition: Saint Joseph Preschool Tuition rates for 2013-2014 (based on 9.5 months) are as follows:

All Day (8am - 3pm)

M-F: $655/month

T/Th: $170/month