Frequently Asked Questions

A cooperative preschool is run by its member families. At Annandale Cooperative Preschool, every class is led by an experienced, professional teacher; we do not employ teacher aides. Instead, parents take turns assisting in the classroom on a rotating schedule, and parent volunteers serve on the board of directors and committees that keep the school running. You are not just dropping your child off at preschool; you are part of it.

No. Annandale Cooperative Preschool is a part-day preschool program that meets on weekday mornings, not full-day drop-off childcare. Joining a co-op takes a little more time and energy than typical drop-off care. In return, you are in the classroom regularly, watching your child learn and getting to know their friends and teachers.

We offer classes for two-year-olds, three-year-olds, and Pre-K (four-year-olds). There are two 2-year-old classes of 8 children each: one meets three days a week and one meets two days a week. There are two 3-year-old classes of 12 children each, both meeting three days a week. Our two Pre-K classes meet either four days a week (12 students) or five days a week (16 students). To be admitted to a class, children must be 2, 3, or 4 by September 30th of the upcoming school year.

All classes meet from 9:00 am to 12:15 pm on their assigned days. The school year runs from the second week of September until the end of May.

No. Children in the 2-year-old classes are not required to be out of diapers, and there is a bathroom in the classroom to help with toilet training. In the 3-year-old classes, independent toileting is encouraged but not required.

Yes. Children bring their own snack from home each day and eat together at snack time, where they practice polite manners, conversation, and managing their own snack things.

It depends on your child’s class: parents co-op in the classroom roughly once every three to four weeks, a bit more often during the first weeks of the 2s and 3s classes while the children settle into their routine. Co-oping schedules are created three months at a time, with careful attention to work schedules, birthdays, and special requests. Families also rotate school-aide days, serve on a committee or the board, and attend three general membership meetings a year, held on weekday evenings in September, February, and May.

Co-oping parents act as the teacher’s aide for the day. You arrive 15 to 30 minutes early to help set up the classroom and greet the children, help the children in the classroom, at snack time, and on the playground, and assist with cleanup. Teachers orient every parent before their first co-oping day, so you will know exactly what to do.

Many co-op families juggle work schedules, and the school works hard to make participation manageable. Co-oping schedules are created three months in advance so you can plan with your employer, and families can pay for a substitute to cover some or all of their school-aide days. Classroom co-oping is still a real commitment; one or both parents take it on, and either parent may fill the role.

The process begins with a tour of the preschool or a visit to one of our open houses in mid-January, when registration opens to the general public. Families then receive information about completing the electronic application and submitting the non-refundable application fee. Classes for the upcoming school year are organized during January.

Possibly. Students are admitted throughout the current school year whenever vacancies occur, or until February 1st. Contact us to ask about current openings.

When classes for the upcoming year are organized in January, preference is given to current preschool members, previous members, members of Little River United Church of Christ, and applicants from the previous year’s waiting list. We also make every attempt to maintain an even number of boys and girls in each class. You can request current waitlist information through our inquiry form.

Tuition is paid monthly from September to May and varies by class; see our tuition and fees schedule for current amounts. Families with more than one child enrolled in the same school year receive a 10% discount off each additional child’s monthly tuition. There is also a yearly insurance and activity fee, and a deposit (May tuition plus the fee) reserves your child’s spot for the following school year.

Yes. Each year the preschool awards one scholarship to a child enrolled for the upcoming school year, covering the application fee and monthly tuition equivalent to the least expensive class for that age group from September to May. Eligibility is based primarily on family income, and priority goes to current ACPS families and students enrolling in the Pre-K program. To request an application, email the Director of Education at director@annandalecoop.org.

Every child enrolling must provide a medical form supplied by the Virginia Department of Education, and sick children are expected to stay home to protect the rest of the class. Because co-oping parents work with children in the classroom, Virginia also requires participating adults to submit biannual proof of a negative TB test or screening. All parents and teachers are trained in Universal Precautions, the CDC-developed hygiene practices we follow to keep the school healthy.

Our classes are led by experienced, degreed teachers, several with master’s degrees in education, supported by a Floating Teacher and our Director of Education, an early childhood educator for more than twenty years. ACPS teachers have been recognized with honors including the 2023 Susie Stone Outstanding Teacher Award from Parent Cooperative Preschools International and the 2024 IPOP Exemplary Community Teacher of the Year from Fairfax County Public Schools.

Our philosophy is learning through play, with free choice at the core of the curriculum. Classrooms are set up as free choice centers: imagination stations, arts and crafts, science zones, blocks and construction, puzzles, sensory tables, and quiet corners, all tailored to each age group. Teachers set developmental goals at every age level that build naturally from year to year, so children leave our school prepared for kindergarten.

Beyond individual classrooms that exceed Virginia state and NAEYC requirements, the school has an Activity Room for gross motor play, a courtyard garden, a wooded nature trail with a paved tricycle path, and a huge playground with two large play structures, a sandbox, playhouses, a boat, and a climbable fire truck.

Plenty. Community volunteers such as firefighters, police officers, dentists, and veterinarians visit the classrooms, and local performers bring educational entertainment to the school. Every spring, each classroom raises caterpillars and watches their metamorphosis. Classes take field trips tied to the curriculum, to places like Frying Pan Park and Hidden Pond Nature Center, and the school hosts vision, hearing, and speech screenings with the Prevention of Blindness Society and the Fairfax County Health Department.

Teachers lovingly guide and redirect the children to help them learn to cooperate with their peers, using positive language, praise for appropriate behavior, an excellent adult-to-child ratio, and redirection to other activities. Any form of hitting, corporal punishment, abusive language, ridicule, or harsh, humiliating, or frightening treatment is both illegal and contrary to our philosophy, and is not tolerated.

Yes. We have maintained accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) since 1987, most recently renewed in 2024. The adult-to-child ratio in every class meets or exceeds the guidelines of the Virginia Department of Education and NAEYC, and the school is affiliated with the Virginia Cooperative Preschool Council and Parent Cooperative Preschools International.

Yes. ACPS was named one of Northern Virginia Magazine’s Top Preschools in 2017 and 2025, was highlighted by NAEYC in 2014 as a provider of outstanding programs to young children, and was the 2009 Nickelodeon Parents’ Pick for Best Washington DC Preschool. Our teachers have also earned numerous teaching awards from regional and national cooperative preschool organizations.

Since 1947, when a group of parents organized the school and opened that fall with toys, furniture, and playground equipment they built themselves. The school has been at its present location since 1959 and has held NAEYC accreditation since 1987.

We would love to show you the school. Use our inquire and enroll page to ask a question, schedule a tour, or start enrollment, email membership@annandalecoop.org, or call 703.978.6127. We are at 8410 Little River Turnpike in Annandale, Virginia.