Early Childhood Education

About Our Program

Passages Charter School Early Childhood Education (ECE) program serves children ages 15 months through 5 years old and their families. We are funded by the Department of Children and Family Services, Chicago Public Schools, and Start Early through their Early/Head Start grant. We provide a research-based, play focused curriculum that supports children’s development in language and literacy, math, social-emotional skills, the arts, physical development and fosters a love of learning where curiosity is encouraged. We also provide enrichment classes during the day such as soccer classes from Super Soccer Stars and music classes from The Old Town School of Folk Music.

Our ECE program is a part of Passages Charter School. This allows us to provide continuity of relationships and learning from birth through 8th grade. Families who attend the preschool program are given priority enrollment status for the kindergarten and elementary program at Passages. This ensures that children and families are able to build deep and meaningful relationships with the teaching staff when they transition to kindergarten and families can ensure that all of their children from age 25 months until they graduate 8th grade are in one, safe, building.

We are open from 7:30-5:30 daily with the program day running from 8:30-3:30 and a sliding scale morning and afterschool program offered from 7:30-8:30 am and 3:30-5:30 pm.

For questions about the Early Childhood Education program, please email the site director, Nena Porter at nporter@mytrellus.org.

What Makes Preschool at Passages Unique?

• We are integrated with Passages Charter school so families can send all of their children age 15 months until they graduate 8th grade to one school building.
• Our lead teaching staff have bachelor’s degrees and professional licenses, many with a focus in serving children who are English as a Second Language learners, and our assistant teaching staff all have a minimum of an associate’s degree.
• We partner with music providers, the public library, and soccer programs to bring in new experiences for the children.
• We provide education and experiences for the entire family such as family literacy night, adult ESL and Career preparation classes, family workshops, family field trips, and more.
• Every family is assigned a family support specialist to help them achieve family goals and work together to solve problems.We utilize a project-based curriculum that involves the children’s ideas and interests every step of the way.
• Our staff speaks several languages such as Rohingya, Spanish, Hindi, Somali, and Serbian.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment is dependent on income and other factors as determined by the Department of Children and Families Services. 90% of families enrolled in the preschool program attend tuition free. We do reserve 10% of our slots for families who do not meet the income requirements and charge a minimal tuition.

In order to enroll, families will need to provide the following documents:

• Parent/Caregivers State ID or Driver’s License
• Child’s Birth Certificate
• Medical Insurance Card for child
• Child’s Immunization Record
• Two most recent check stubs, (paid bi-weekly/bi-monthly/monthly); Four most recent check stubs (paid weekly), which must be dated within the last 30 days
• No Income – Must write and sign a letter which states that you have no income
• Current school schedule or school schedule and check stubs
• If child has a disability, please provide a copy of the Early Intervention IFSP or CPS IEP
• If you are a foster parent, a letter from your DCFS caseworker is needed to enroll your foster child.
• If you receive TANF, you must provide your RASP letter.
• If your child has physical or dental exam it cannot be (must be dated within 6 months from the enrollment date for children 3 to 5 years of age)

For enrollment questions, please email Alison at abrinson@mytrellus.org. Families can also apply on the Chicago Early Learning Portal and selecting Passages: chicagoearlylearning.org.