Year-round

In a year-round elementary schools, the traditional 180-day school year is divided into nine-week quarters with a three-week break at the end of each quarter. Students are in school the same number of days as their counterparts in traditional schools. Their days are simply redistributed throughout the year. The reorganized schedule is called a 45/15 calendar-45 days in school, 15 days off (view the 2002-03 year-round calendar).

Unique Features

Continuous Cycle of Learning
Maximized Use of Facilities
Intersession program for acceleration and remediation

Students are divided into four groups, called tracks, with each track having its own calendar and its own teachers. Schedules are staggered so that, at any given time, three tracks are in school and one is on break. These staggered schedules make it possible for the school to serve up to thirty-three percent more students than its intended capacity.

Year-round schools provide a more continuous learning process. Since students do not have a long summer vacation, major reviewing in the fall is eliminated. Students and teachers are more energized throughout the year due to regular breaks. The three-week breaks provide frequent enrichment and remedial opportunities (intersession) for students during the year.

Year-round Intersession Program

Unique Features

Additional days for learning during intersession
Opportunities for achieving higher levels of academic performance
Frequent interaction between home and school

The Year-Round Elementary School's Magnet Intersession Program provides significantly enhanced learning experiences within the year-round magnet model. This intersession model is founded on the belief that, given the right circumstances, ALL children can learn.

Designed to foster increased academic success, the program employs innovative instructional strategies in an enriched learning environment to benefit targeted students and accelerate their learning. New learning experiences include field studies as an extension of the curriculum. A strong interaction between lead teachers, classroom teachers and families cultivates an unwavering alliance for student achievement. Lead teachers work closely with classroom teachers and parents to design a Customized Acceleration Plan (CAP) that outlines strategies parents can use at home to support learning.

Students attend the ten-day program during three year-round intersessions and participate in academic activities designed to increase their math, language, writing and thinking skills. Parents are responsible for securing childcare for the other five days.

The program follows normal school hours
Students may participate in the breakfast and lunch program provided by the Wake County Public School System's Child Nutrition Services at the same price as on a normal school day.
Students are expected to behave in a manner that is conducive to a productive learning environment and are subject to all Wake County Public School System policies.
Students may spend 1-2 days in off-site learning. Parents may be asked to incur expenses for out of town field experiences.

There is a separate application for the intersession program. Assignment to the year-round elementary school through this program is based on continued participation in the intersession program.