Current CWS Families

This page is a central resource hub for enrolled Charlottesville Waldorf School families. Here you will find links to our school systems, calendars, forms, volunteer opportunities, community information, and important day-to-day resources.

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Attendance

If your child will be arriving late or will be absent from school, please alert the office as soon as possible.

Call 434-973-4946 ext. 100 or email cwsoffice@cwaldorf.org

Parents must inform the school within 24 hours or the next business day after their child has developed any reportable communicable disease.

PLEASE NOTE:  According to VA Department of Health Guidelines, a child may be return to school when, for at least 24 hours, both of these are true: 

• Their symptoms are getting better overall, AND 
• They have not had a fever (and are not using a fever-reducing medication such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen) 

Drop-Off and Dismissal

Morning Drop-Off

Grade School carline drop-off begins at 7:50am
Students arriving after 8:10 must stop at the Main Office to check in

• Families dropping off grade school students should proceed up the driveway and join the drop off line along the right side of the parking lot.
• Students should not leave vehicles until they are along the sidewalk, the first 3-4 cars.
• Please be sure to put your vehicle in park before your child exits.
• For everyones’ safety, please wait for the cars in front of you to leave before leaving the drop off line. Do not pull around cars in the front of the line.
• If you need to help your child exit the vehicle, or if your child needs extra time to get out, please pull into a parking spot and walk your child to the drop off area.

Early Childhood drop-off begins at 8am
EC students should join their class no later than 8:30am

• Families dropping off early childhood students should park in the lower lot (first on your right as you enter the campus).
• An adult must walk the student to the classroom or playground drop off area – please refer to notes from your child’s teacher to determine drop off location as these may change according to weather or season.
• If the parking lot is full, families may proceed to the upper lot and walk across the playground. Parking is also permitted on the right side of the driveway going up the hill (past the classrooms building).
• Please do not park along the entrance driveway before the parking lot.

Dismissal

Grade School carline dismissal begins at 3:10pm
On days with early dismissal, grade school carline is at 12:30pm unless otherwise communicated

• The grade school carline forms along the right side of the driveway as cars are leaving the campus (down the hill).
• Please drive all the way up, circle the top lot, and return down the hill to join the line.
• The faculty/staff member running dismissal will come to your car in turn to ask who you are picking up (name and grade).
• If someone other than a parent is picking up, please make sure they are on the authorized pick up list for your child or you have contacted the office. They will be asked to show ID.
• If you are in the upper lot when the carline begins to form, please join the line to exit campus. With busy traffic and children crossing to enter vehicles, it is not safe to drive around the carline.

Early Childhood half-day pick up time is 11:45
Early Childhood full-day pick up time is 2:45
On days with early dismissal, all EC students will be dismissed at 11:45am

• Please refer to notes from your child’s teacher for early childhood pick up locations as these may change due to weather or season.

Aftercare

Early Childhood and Grade School Aftercare is available on an annual, monthly, or drop-in basis for full or partial weeks. Annual, full-week aftercare can be included on your enrollment contract and is paid as part of your tuition. Aftercare for a more limited schedule will be contracted along with back to school forms and paperwork. Full details and registration for annual and monthly aftercare is available in the Community Portal on the Resources page under the Aftercare tab.

To register for drop-in aftercare, please contact the office at 434-973-4946 or via email at cwsoffice@cwaldorf.org.

Please note: drop-in aftercare is available only if there is space open for that day. It is important to confirm with the office as early as possible.

Outdoor Gear

All of our students spend considerable time outdoors and in all types of weather! It is important for their health and safety that children are appropriately dressed for the weather.

Students should have appropriate clothing and gear for the season at school each day. Teachers may ask you to have rain boots and/or rain pants and coats that stay at school for your child. Please see the Dress Code section in the Family Handbook (find it in the Community Portal) for specifics on dress code and weather-related gear.

Cold Weather and Rain Gear Information >
Helpful information and suggestions for dressing smaller children for cold and inclement weather.

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Where to find…

Charlottesville Waldorf School uses Blackbaud Education for our Community Portal and Student Information System. This is the system through which your student’s application process and/or reenrollment contracting took place. At the beginning of each year you will be asked to complete a checklist of forms. There is a lot of important and useful information stored in the Community Portal, including:

• Resources Board, with the Family Handbook, Medical Forms, upcoming Festival information, and more
• Community Association (CA) group page
• Student schedules, including their daily schedule and the full academic calendar
• Class lists and faculty contact information
• Annual student reports (mid-year and end-of-year) and scheduled assessments

Assessments and Reports

Mid-year (for grade school students) and end-of-year reports (for early childhood and grade school students) can be found on the student’s profile in the Community Portal. To view:

• Sign in at cwaldorf.myschoolapp.com 
• Choose your child’s name in the upper left corner (or click on the dropdown labeled “Children” and choose a name)
• The Progress tab should be active and the current school year should be listed in the “Select Grade” dropdown menu
• In the Performance box, click “Report Cards” and then click the Mid-Year Report link. Reports open as a PDF file, so depending on your browser settings it will either open directly or download the PDF.

Rising First Grade and Second Grade Assessments are completed by our Educational Support Specialist each year and you will be notified when your child’s assessment is ready to view in the Community Portal. To view:

• Sign in at cwaldorf.myschoolapp.com 
• Choose your child’s name in the upper left corner (or click on the dropdown labeled “Children” and choose a name)
• The Progress tab should be active and the current school year should be listed in the “Select Grade” dropdown menu
• In the Files box there is a CWS Student Assessments link, it will have a green button with a 1 beside it.  Click on the CWS Student Assessment, then click on the assessment title to open. Assessments open as a PDF file, so depending on your browser settings it will either open directly or download the PDF.

Emergency Contacts and Authorized Pick-Up

This information must be updated at the beginning of each school year and will be part of your child’s required back to school forms through the portal. To view this information, please go to your child’s profile and click on the Contact Card tab.

You can update and edit the list of your child’s emergency contacts directly from the contact card tab.

To update your child’s authorized pick up list during the school year, or to add an address for an addition to their emergency contacts, please contact the main office at 434-973-4946 ext 100 or email cwsoffice@cwaldorf.org.

How Updates Are Sent

Time sensitive updates and alerts for CWS parents are sent via email from the Community Portal. You can also opt-in for text message alerts for important updates such as closings or delays, emergency alerts, and athletics schedules. In the case of an emergency directly related to your child, the office will call you on the phone. Please note that parents/guardians will be called first in case of emergencies. If you cannot be reached, the office will call the emergency contacts on file for your child.

CWS parents and guardians are added to a google group for their child’s class each year. You are welcome to use this group for communication with all the parents/guardians in the class; teachers and school admin are also included. If you would like to change your email settings, please go to groups.google.com and choose the group name and then “My Membership Settings”. If you have any further questions, feel free to email the CWS office at cwsoffice@cwaldorf.org.

To ensure you receive all school communications:

• regularly check the Blackbaud Parent Portal and update your settings to include receiving email and/or text alerts
• make sure school emails are not filtered into spam or promotions folders
• remain subscribed to your class Google Group
• keep your contact information updated with the school office

School Closings and Delays

School Closures and Delays are sent through our regular notification systems and are also posted on our website (top banner) and on the public listings on NBC29 and CBS19.

Snow days, other inclement weather closings, and early closings and delayed openings due to weather are determined by the City of Charlottesville. At 6:00 a.m. the School Director will check the City of Charlottesville’s decision and alert the media outlets of the same decision for CWS, indicating the time of drop-off in the event of a delayed opening, and will send a notification through the school’s Community Portal. An email will be sent to all adults and we recommend signing up for text notifications through the portal.

We try to announce widely on local media outlets with as much advance notice as possible; however, weather can move and shift quickly, the county and city are often wide-ranging experiences, and each family should proceed with the caution and consideration required in such times. 

In the event of inclement weather or other circumstances where it is clearly not safe for students to remain at school, the School Director will initiate early dismissal and contact media outlets to dismiss school. The School Director will send out a campus-wide email and update the Charlottesville Waldorf School’s website to communicate the closure.  

If students are not picked up within a half hour of the communicated dismissal time, the School Director or receptionist will call the students’ emergency contacts. Teachers will dismiss students to the grade school aftercare room, where the School Director will supervise them until they are picked up by their parents or emergency contacts.

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