Visiting and The Enrollment Process

After looking around our website, you may be thinking that The Mayapple School would be the perfect fit for your child! We’d love to have you come visit. We are now scheduling tours for families who wish to enroll their children for the 2024/2025 school year. This information was last updated on 11/15/2023.

2023-2024 School Year Waitlist 

Enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is currently full and runs from August 2023 to June 2024. To be placed on the waitlist for any spots that become available for any portion of the 2023-2024 school year, please email melissa@mayapple.org with your child’s name and birthdate, your name and best contact information, and the schedule(s) that you are interested in. If a spot becomes available for your child, you will have the opportunity to come and visit The Mayapple School before you decide if you will enroll your child, and your registration fee will be pro-rated according to the time left in the school year.

At this time, we prioritize the needs of returning students and their siblings, and because schedule changes are often desired as children get older, new babies are born, etc. we cannot predict years in advance how many openings we will have available. No enrollment list, wait list, or any other promise of enrollment or order of possible enrollment acceptance is being cultivated for future school years.

Fees and Who Should Visit

A non-refundable fee of $10 helps us partially offset the cost of your group tour and helps ensure staff time is used wisely. Schedule your tour here.

Parents/guardians, children, and their family members are welcome on tours. The Mayapple School currently operates as a one room school designed for ages 3, 4, and 5. Sometimes, children a little younger show readiness for the program and therefore we may accept some children as young as 2 years 9 months by the start of the school year. Applicants should be  ready for the program, have no special needs that cannot be meet by The Mayapple School, and be self-toileting during the school day.

If your child does not meet the above age requirements, please delay your visit until the following year, closer to your child’s possible start date so that your visit will be more current when you make your enrollment decision.

While Visiting

We are located at 404 Mt. Tabor Rd, Blacksburg VA 24060 in the bottom floor of the Quaker Friends Meetinghouse. Park in any appropriate space in the parking lot. As you walk towards the building, you will notice an asphalt path to the left which leads to the back of the building. Enter using the second door at the back of the building (the one with The Mayapple School sign on it), which will take you to our indoor space.

Tours take approximately 40 minutes. Adults and children, please dress for the weather including walking shoes for wet ground, as most tours are about 20 minutes outside and 20 minutes inside. During the tour you will have the opportunity to see our indoor and outdoor classrooms, plus our wild area, learn more about our day at The Mayapple School, and ask questions.

Changes for the 2024/2025 School Year – Touring Our New Location

The Mayapple School recently purchased property on Old Fort Rd in Blacksburg. While there are a lot of moving parts such as special use permit, building permits, and required building renovations, we hope that summer camp 2024 and the 2024/2025 school year will be held at this location. The public, including interested prospective families, will be invited to tour the property at an Open House, dates TBD.

Enrollment Decisions

Enrollment decisions are made without discrimination in regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, national origin; or parental age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status. Please note that at this time The Mayapple School has a limited ability to serve children with special needs and that all such needs must be revealed on student applications before admission. Generally, all applicants for the 2024/2025 school year that are received by the priority deadline of March 25, 2024 will be considered and children placed in the following order:

1. Children of employees
2. Children of currently serving Directors on The Mayapple School board, who have been actively and productively serving for at least three months, and who will continue to serve for such a time so that consecutive time served is at least nine months in total.
3. Current students and siblings of current students
4. Former students and siblings of former students
5. Children of former employees
6. All other qualified applicants, with the goal of creating a balanced mixed-age classroom with a strong full day enrollment. Additionally, one or more spaces may be saved for scholarship students at the discretion of The Mayapple School Board.

You are encouraged to submit your applications (available January 2024) by the priority deadline of March 25. Applications received after the priority deadline will be considered after all applications received by the priority deadline. All applications for the 2024/2025 school year must include the registration and supply fee to be considered complete; if for any reason we are not able to offer a space for your child, your fee will be returned to you.