Preschool Re-Enrollment: Confirm Families Before Offering Places
- Separate a request to return, an outstanding offer and a confirmed place.
- Calculate availability for every requested weekday.
- Record unanswered requests explicitly and apply the program’s stated policy.
Preschool re-enrollment starts with a clear question: which current families want a place next term, and for which days? Gather those requests before making new offers. Then confirm what your program can actually provide. A family's intention to return is not yet a confirmed place.
Download the editable CSV worksheet.
Use this workflow alongside your part-time enrollment plan. The examples below are fictional planning aids, not rules about licensed capacity or a required offer order.
Set the decisions before contacting families
Write down the next term's dates, available schedules, eligibility rules, response deadline and person responsible for each decision. Decide how existing agreements and your published enrollment policy affect returning families. Do not invent a new priority rule halfway through the process.
Explain what families are being asked to do. A request to indicate interest should not sound like an offer. An offer should state the schedule, start date, next steps and deadline. A confirmation should describe a place that staff have actually approved.
For each room, review staffing, space and the applicable operating requirements before deciding how many places to offer. Software availability is a planning input, not permission to exceed those limits.
Keep one row per child and requested schedule
Use your internal child reference in the working sheet. Store contact details and sensitive records in your approved system rather than copying them into a broadly shared spreadsheet.
| Child reference | Requested schedule | Family response | Staff decision | Offer deadline | Next action and owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-101 | Mon–Fri | Wants to return | Review complete | Example: May 8 | Issue offer; director |
| R-102 | Mon/Wed/Fri | Wants to return | Schedule under review | Not set | Check daily places; office |
| R-103 | Tue/Thu | Not received | No decision | Not set | Follow up; office |
| R-104 | Mon–Fri | Not returning | Recorded | Not applicable | Follow existing exit process; director |
Keep the response date and last contact date beside this sheet. If a family has not answered, record “not received.” Do not interpret silence as withdrawal. If your policy sets a deadline, follow that policy and record the next decision explicitly.
Work out availability by day
Suppose a room has an approved planning limit of 12 places on each weekday. This fictional example has no new outstanding offers yet:
| Day | Planning limit | Confirmed returning places | Reserved for unresolved returning requests | Available for new offers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Tuesday | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Wednesday | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Thursday | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Friday | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
Available places equal the planning limit minus confirmed places, reserved places and any outstanding new offers. Keep each category separate to avoid subtracting the same child twice. A request for Monday, Wednesday and Friday must fit on every requested day. Three open Tuesday places do not solve a full Wednesday.
If your program does not reserve places for unresolved requests, replace that category with your actual policy. Do not silently change the meaning of the sheet.
Confirm, then move to the waitlist
Before sending an offer, check the child, schedule, room, start date and required next steps. Record the offer as outstanding so another staff member cannot promise the same place. Once the family meets your confirmation conditions, move that allocation from outstanding to confirmed.
Use the preschool waitlist-offer workflow for subsequent offers. Keep a record of any schedule change and confirm the revised arrangement with the family.
Close the re-enrollment round
Reconcile the response tracker with the next-term roster. Investigate any child marked confirmed in one place and unresolved in another. Review first-day readiness separately; a confirmed place does not prove that every required record has been reviewed.
Bloomily's enrollment overview shows the product area for offers, forms and waitlists. Bring your returning-family example to a demonstration and check how each decision will be recorded before opening the next round.