Love God Love Others Reach the World
International Praise Church of God, Elgin, SC
Firm Foundations Academy
OUR VISION
At Firm Foundations we strive to provide a faith based, standards driven education, while utilizing top notch facilities and loving staff. We dedicate ourselves to providing families with safe, fun and educationally advanced learning opportunities to equip their student(s) to be lifelong Christ centered learners.
OUR MISSION
At Firm Foundations we partner with parents to achieve academic success, encourage children’s spiritual growth and link arms with families as they move from destruction to victory in Jesus.
CURRICULUM
Early Literacy Program:
Children will experience direct small group and whole group instruction based on developmentally appropriate standards. A print rich environment will create a love of reading and an awareness of written and spoken language.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math):
Children will experience STEAM activities in the classroom to foster growth in Math, Science and the Arts. Students will use hands on manipulatives to encourage questioning, hypothesizing, experimentation and analysis.
Christ Centered Curriculum:
Jesus is at the center of every subject in our curriculum and prayer will be integrated daily into lessons and throughout the day. We will use Bob Jones Press curriculum in areas; 3 year olds to 8th grade
Firm Foundations Academy offers both half day preschool through kindergarten, as well as full day kindergarten through 8th grade. Additionally, After School Care is available.
HALF DAY PRE-K & 4K/5K KINDERGARTEN TUITION
HALF DAY PRE-K & 4K/5K KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Lunch Bunch: Lunch Bunch is offered Monday – Friday. Students must bring their own lunch and may attend Lunch Bunch only on days they are enrolled in. (ie 3 day a week students can attend lunch bunch on their 3 days a week).
Enrollment fee (non-refundable): $125 per child
Classroom Supply fee: $100 Rather than a supply list at the beginning of the year, a flat fee covers the classroom supplies/books for the year ($50 per semester). (Workbook, crafting supplies, scissors, glue etc)
Tuition: Tuition can be paid in one lump sum by July 1st or in 10 equal monthly payments (July – May). We do not charge tuition in Dec as we know it’s a tight month for many families.
Discounts:
To keep costs as low as possible, we do not offer discounts except in the following limited circumstances.
1discount per family.
Paid in Full by or before July 1st: $100 off yearly tuition
Former/active military: $100 off yearly tuition Sibling discount: $100 off yearly tuition
Preschool Hours: 9:00 – 12:00 | Lunch Bunch hours: 9:00-1:00
Children must arrive no later than 9:30 to attend for the day. We feel this sets them up for success that day and allows for them to participate in all the learning activities. Children arriving later than 9:30 will be asked to stay home for the day.
4k/5k hours: 8:30 – 3:00 | Aftercare: 3:00-4:00
DROP OFF AND PICK-UP
Drop off is at 9:00 and children must be picked up at 12:00.
Doors will be unlocked from 9:00 -9:15 am and 11:55-12:05 pm.
Lunch Bunch Children must be picked up at 1:00.
Doors are unlocked from 12:55-1:05.
LATE PICK-UP FEES:
For normal hours, a $25 late fee will be assessed at 12:05 and an additional $10 added every 10 minutes. For Lunch Bunch, a $25 late fee is accessed at 1:05 and additional $10 added every 10 minutes.
Late fees must be paid by the end of the month for the child to continue to attend.
BEFORE CARE/AFTERCARE
BEFORE CARE for 6wks – 3 yr olds. Students can be dropped off at 8:30 if registered to do so at the beginning of the school year. A breakfast type snack will be available and free play. Cost is not adjusted for missed days or closed days and all financial/closing policies for Firm Foundations Preschool apply to aftercare as well. You may pay in 10 monthly payments and add it on to your monthly tuition.
AFTERCARE Available for 4k and 5k only, 3:00-4:00. Students will have snack, structured play time/outdoor time & enrichment activities that fit in with what they are learning for the week. Cost is $10/day, and you must register at the beginning of the school year for the school year. Cost is not adjusted for missed days or closed days and all financial/closing policies for Firm Foundations Preschool apply to aftercare as well. You may pay in 10 monthly payments and add it on to your monthly tuition.
Curriculum: for infants through 2 yrs. old, we use ABC we love Jesus. For 3 yr. old’s, 4 yr. old’s and 5k, we use BJU press – this sets them up to transition easily to full day school with us or be prepared to step into public school settings armed with the knowledge they need to succeed.
Snacks: Snacks are provided on a rotation basis (example: Mondays – Goldfish, Tuesdays – animal crackers etc……Gerber puffs for infants etc) a menu for the year will be sent home at the beginning of the year.
If your student has allergies or strong preferences for different snack, please send snack in with the child. Parents are welcome to send in birthday/holiday treats, please arrange with your teacher ahead of time. Due to allergies treats must be store bought with allergy info labeled.
RATIO:
Calendar/Inclement Weather/Closings/Widespread Illness Policy
We follow the Kershaw County School Calendar very closely. When they are closed, we are closed. We will make every effort to alert parents for weather related closings as quickly as possible. When Kershaw County has a delayed start of 1 hr – we will have a delayed start of one hour. If they have a delayed start of 2 hrs. – we are closed for preschool. Full day 4k and 5k will start at 10:30. (Normal “Late start Wednesday” has no effect on our starting times) To allow for our teachers to get their school age children back in routine, we start 1 week after Kershaw schools start. To allow our teachers to participate in end of the year activities with their children, we end one week before Kershaw schools do.
When inclement weather is a question, the school will try to communicate as quickly as possible, via email and text, what the plan for that day will be.
Please remember, our teachers have children in our local schools, and we must make sure we have coverage in the classrooms, so this is considered when there are closings or delays.
If you are called to pick up your child, please do so immediately.
Other possible reasons for closure:
-No electricity or running water
-No Heat or AC not available
-City or State agency declares a weather emergency
-Widespread Illness
No policy/protocol can cover every potential emergency, we reserve the right to adjust school openings when necessary.
No adjustments or refunds will be made to tuition fees due to closures for any of the above reasons.
Financial policy: We seek to be good stewards of that which has been entrusted to us. Therefore, to plan accurately, we ask each family to view their involvement as a commitment for the entire year (July – May*).
No refunds will be given, and all tuition must be paid in full except for the following reasons:
• Death of the paying parent
• Loss of a job
• Moving out of state (proof via copy of new state issued id )
Firm Foundations utilizes Procare for registration and tuition payments. Families are required to sign up for ACH (automatic payments from your Bank account) to attend.
Class placement/potty training: Students are placed based on their age on Sept 1 of the school year. Teachers make every effort to assist in potty training when your family is ready. Students that are not ready to potty train or that refuse to try at school MUST wear a diaper/pull-up while with us. To move to the 3’s classroom, students must be completely potty trained. After the first two weeks of a back-to-school adjustment period, more than 2 accidents in the same week in 3’s and 4’s will result in the child either bumping back down to 2’s if room allows (3 yr olds) or being asked to withdrawal until such a time as potty training is complete (4 yr olds or 3’s if there is no room in 2’s). *
*Financial Policy Still Applies
FULL DAY K-8TH REGISTRATION & TUITION
Drop off/Pick up: Drop off at 8:30, pick up at 3:00.
**After school Program: 3:00 – 4:00 . Students must register at the beginning of the year for the entire year. Cost: $10 per day. No drop ins are allowed.
Discounts: To keep costs as low as possible, we do not offer discounts except in the following limited circumstances.
1 discount per family
Paid in Full by or before July 1st: $100 off yearly tuition
Former/active military: $100 off yearly tuition Sibling discount: $100 off yearly tuition
Books: If not paid by May 20th parents must order the books and send them to school on the first day.
Late Pickup fees: Late fees will be assessed at 3:05 for students not enrolled in Homework Crew. $25 at 3:05 and $10 every 10 minutes thereafter. For students enrolled in Homework Crew, a $25 dollar late fee will be assessed at 4:05 and $10 added every 10 minutes thereafter. Late fees must be paid with the next tuition payment due for a student to attend.
Calendar/Inclement Weather/Closings/Widespread Illness Policy
We follow the Kershaw County School Calendar. When they are closed, we are closed. We will make every effort to alert parents for weather related closings as quickly as possible. When Kershaw County has a delayed start of 1 hr – we will have a delayed start of one hour. If they have a delayed start of 2 hrs – we are closed. (Normal “Late start Wednesday” has no effect on our starting times)
When inclement weather is a question, the school will try to communicate as quickly as possible via email, in most cases, what the plan for that day will be.
Please remember, our teachers have children in our local schools, and we must make sure we have coverage in the classrooms, so this is considered when there are closings or delays.
If you are called to pick up your child, please do so immediately.
Other possible reasons for closure:
-No electricity or running water
-No Heat or AC not available
-City or State agency declares a weather emergency
-Widespread Illness
No policy/protocol can cover every potential emergency, we reserve the right to adjust school openings when necessary.
No adjustments or refunds will be made to tuition fees due to closures for any of the above reasons.
Financial policy: We seek to be good stewards of that which has been entrusted to us. Therefore, to plan accurately, we ask each family to view their involvement as a commitment for the entire year (July – May). No refunds will be given, and all tuition must be paid in full except for the following reasons:
• Death of the paying parent
• Loss of a job
• Moving out of state (proof via copy of new state issued id )
Firm Foundations utilizes Procare for registration and tuition payments. Families are required to sign up for ACH (automatic payments from your Bank account) to attend.
Curriculum/Accreditation: We use BJU online in our classrooms. Students will watch the learning video with the lesson presented by a licensed teacher together and then complete textbook pages and classroom projects in the classroom. A classroom facilitator/teacher will guide conversations and lead learning activities. Accreditation is given to schools/classroom that meet specific benchmarks. BJU offers an accredited online option to homeschool families and offers that same exact content to schools. Once a school is up and running, accreditation for that specific school can also be sought and acquired. Firm Foundations Academy will seek that accreditation in year 3 of school operations after we have gotten all policies, procedures and daily operations in place and our feet firmly underneath us. We must have a running program to seek accreditation.
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