Prekindergarten 3 Program

The Prekindergarten 3 (PreK3) program is for children who are 3 years old on or before September 1 of the school year when they are enrolling in PreK3.

Steps for Registration:

Step 1: Reserve a seat through Parent Focus. 

You must have a Parent Focus account to do this. You can create one by visiting focus.pcsb.org 

To apply for a seat, create or log into your Parent Focus, navigate to “Student Reservation System” on the left side of the navigation pane, and then click on the PreK3 option on the left side.

Step 2: After a seat is granted, pick up your enrollment packet from the school.

In order to move forward with the enrollment process, you must first be offered a seat at the school. All initial applications are placed on a waitlist, regardless of seat availability. Program seats are offered in sequential order based on placement on the waitlist. Our school’s DMT/Registrar will contact families when a seat becomes available. Please ensure your contact information is accurate and up to date when submitting your initial reservation.

Once you have been contacted and accept a seat, you may visit the school to pickup an enrollment packet.

Step 3: Complete the enrollment packet.

Inside the PreK3 enrollment packet, there will be several Pinellas County School forms that you will need to complete and return. These include the following:

• PreK3 Parent Agreement
• Office Contact Card
• K-12 Registration Card (even though it says K-12, this must still be completed)
• Home Language Survey
• Residency Questionnaire
• Florida Student Ethnicity & Demographic Form

You will also be required to provide certain documents for your child. These include the following:

• Birth Certificate (proof of birth)
• Two Proofs of Residency (preferably utility bills; rental/lease; landline/cable bill; mortgage/homestead tax document; ID/DL and other docs as a last resort. Regular mail documents will not suffice.)
• Physical (dated within last 12 months)
• Immunization Record (must be on FL DH680 form)

When your registration forms are completed, and required documents are gathered, please return the enrollment packet to the school.

Step 4: Pay the online registration fee

Once the school receives your completed enrollment packet, you will be advised to pay your online registration fee. This is a non-refundable, $100 fee that holds your seat. 

To pay the registration fee, log into your Parent Focus, navigate to “Student Reservation System” on the left side of the navigation pane, and then on the Pay Registration Fee option on the right side.

Note: If your student receives full-time Exceptional Education (ESE) services, the $100 registration fee is waived. 

After these steps have been completed, your child may begin PreK3! Please take note of the Prek3 weekly tuition fee below:

Weekly Tuition Fee

PreK3 tuition at Belcher Elementary is $140/week. Tuition payments are made through PCS Brightwheel. For more information about tuition payments through brightwheel, click here: PCSbrightwheel.pdf

Note: If your student receives full-time Exceptional Education (ESE) services, the $140/week tuition is waived. 

There is no free/reduced tuition application for PreK3 - this is for VPK only. 

Resource: PreK3 & VPK Tuition Matrix

For more information regarding the PCS PreK3 program, visit pcsb.org/learning/early-childhood-education

 

Voluntary Prekindergarten for 4-Year-Olds (VPK)

The VPK program is for children who are 4 years old on or before September 1 of the school year when they are enrolling in VPK.

VPK is offered in two formats: half-day and full-day. Please indicate whether your child will attend half-day or full-day VPK by carefully completing the VPK Parent Agreement included in your enrollment packet.

Important: Students are automatically scheduled for full-day VPK unless a different schedule is properly indicated on the VPK Parent Agreement. Please carefully review and complete the agreement to ensure your child is scheduled for your preferred VPK option.

All students automatically qualify for free, half-day VPK. There is no registration fee or weekly tuition charge for the half-day VPK.

Families have the option to extend VPK to full-day. This will incur a non-refundable $100 registration fee, and weekly tuition of $125/week. Tuition assistance is available for families that qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. See Weekly Tuition Fee section below.

Steps for Registration:

Step 1: Reserve a seat through Parent Focus. 

You must have a Parent Focus account to do this. You can create one by visiting focus.pcsb.org 

To apply for a seat, create or log into your Parent Focus, navigate to “Student Reservation System” on the left side of the navigation pane, and then click on the VPK option on the left side.

Step 2: After a seat is granted, pick up your enrollment packet from the school.

In order to move forward with the enrollment process, you must first be offered a seat at the school. All initial applications are placed on a waitlist, regardless of seat availability. Program seats are offered in sequential order based on placement on the waitlist. Our school’s DMT/Registrar will contact families when a seat becomes available. Please ensure your contact information is accurate and up to date when submitting your initial reservation.

Once you have been contacted and accept a seat, you may visit the school to pickup an enrollment packet.

Step 3: Complete the enrollment packet.

Inside the VPK enrollment packet, there will be several Pinellas County School forms that you will need to complete and return. These include the following:

• VPK Parent Agreement
• Office Contact Card
• K-12 Registration Card (even though it says K-12, this must still be completed)
• Home Language Survey
• Residency Questionnaire
• Florida Student Ethnicity & Demographic Form

You will also be required to provide certain documents for your child. These include the following:

• Birth Certificate (proof of birth)
• Two Proofs of Residency (preferably utility bills; rental/lease; landline/cable bill; mortgage/homestead tax document; ID/DL and other docs as a last resort. Regular mail documents will not suffice.)
• Physical (dated within last 12 months)
• Immunization Record (must be on FL DH680 form)
• VPK Certificate of Eligibility (see notes below)

When your registration forms are completed, and required documents are gathered, please return the enrollment packet to the school.

Step 4: Obtain the Certificate of Eligibility

VPK families must apply for a certificate of eligibility with the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County. Please visit elcpinellas.org to obtain this document. For additional information or questions, please contact the Early Learning Coalition at 727-400-4411.

Note: If your student receives full-time Exceptional Education (ESE) services, you do not need the Certificate of Eligibility.

If your student does not receive ESE services, you must provide the Certificate of Eligibility to begin VPK. Parents, please ensure you are signing and dating in Boxes 18 and 19 before submitting. Without your signature, the certificate is not valid and your child will not be able to begin VPK.

Step 5: Pay the online registration fee

Once the school receives your completed enrollment packet, you will be advised to pay your online registration fee. This is a non-refundable, $100 fee that holds your seat. 

To pay the registration fee, log into your Parent Focus, navigate to “Student Reservation System” on the left side of the navigation pane, and then click on the Pay Registration Fee option on the right side.

Note: If your student receives full-time Exceptional Education (ESE) services, the $100 registration fee is waived. 

Additionally, all families opting for half-day VPK services will waive the $100 registration fee.

Families of non-ESE students who opt to extend VPK to full-day are required to pay the $100 registration fee.

After these steps have been completed, your child may begin VPK! Please take note of the VPK weekly tuition fee below:

Weekly Tuition Fee (full-time, non-ESE only)

VPK tuition at Belcher Elementary is $125/week. Tuition payments are made through PCS Brightwheel. For more information about tuition payments through brightwheel, click here: PCSbrightwheel.pdf

Note: If your student receives full-time Exceptional Education (ESE) services, the $125/week tuition is waived. 

All families opting for half-day VPK services will waive the $125/week tuition fee.

Tuition assistance is available for families that qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. You may submit a free/reduced lunch application by visiting myschoolapps.com

Families who qualify for reduced lunch will have their weekly tuition reduced to $30/week.

Families who qualify for free lunch will have their weekly tuition waived.

Resource: PreK3 & VPK Tuition Matrix

For more information regarding the PCS VPK program, visit pcsb.org/learning/early-childhood-education

 

Kindergarten through Grade 5 (K-5)

All students enrolling in Kindergarten must be 5 years old on or before September 1 of the school year when they are enrolling in KG.

K-5 Enrollment Scenarios:

Scenario: Brand-new PCS student, never enrolled in PCS (K-5)

Step 1: Complete a school reservation through Parent Focus. 

You must have a Parent Focus account to do this. You can create one by visiting focus.pcsb.org 

To complete a reservation, create or log into your Parent Focus, navigate to Forms on the left side of the navigation pane, and then click on the Online Application option on the left side. This will allow you to begin a new reservation.

Note: A reservation will be assigned to your ZONED school based on the residential address you input. If Belcher Elementary is not your residential zoned school, the reservation will not come to us. You may verify your zoned school using the Zoned School Locator.

Step 2: Pick up a K-5 enrollment packet from the school.

Once your reservation has been completed, you may visit the school to pick up a PCS enrollment packet. Inside the K-5 enrollment packet, there will be several Pinellas County School forms that you will need to complete and return. These include the following:

You may also find the K-5 enrollment packet online, here: Full K-5 Enrollment Packet

Step 3: Complete the enrollment packet.

Inside the VPK enrollment packet, there will be several Pinellas County School forms that you will need to complete and return. These include the following:

• Office Contact Card
• K-12 Registration Card
• Home Language Survey
• Residency Questionnaire
• Florida Student Ethnicity & Demographic Form
• Pinellas County Pre-K Survey
• PCS Media Release, Internet Agreement, Directory Information, and Healthcare Consent Forms

You will also be required to provide certain documents for your child. These include the following:

• Birth Certificate (proof of birth)
• Two Proofs of Residency (preferably utility bills; rental/lease; landline/cable bill; mortgage/homestead tax document; ID/DL and other docs as a last resort. Regular mail documents will not suffice.)
• Physical (dated within last 12 months)
• Immunization Record (must be on FL DH680 form
• Social Security Number (we are required to ask, but you are not required to provide)

When your registration forms are completed, and required documents are gathered, please return the enrollment packet to the school. 

Please note that an incomplete enrollment packet will delay enrollment processing and finalization. The documents listed above are required to complete a new student enrollment.  

Scenario: Returning to PCS (previously enrolled in a PCS school for K-5 – excluding PreK3/VPK)

Step 1: Complete a school reservation through Parent Focus. 

You must have a Parent Focus account to do this. You can create one by visiting focus.pcsb.org 

To complete a reservation, create or log into your Parent Focus, navigate to Forms on the left side of the navigation pane, and then click on the Online Application option on the left side. This will allow you to begin a reservation.

Note: A reservation will be assigned to your ZONED school based on the residential address you input. If Belcher Elementary is not your residential zoned school, the reservation will not come to us. You may verify your zoned school using the Zoned School Locator.

Step 2: Provide the required documentation and forms.

Since your student has already been enrolled in a PCS school - you will not need to begin a brand-new enrollment packet. The only PCS document you will need to provide is an updated:

• Residency Questionnaire (can be found online or at the school)

In addition to the Residency Questionnaire, the only other documents you'll need to provide are:

• Two Proofs of Residency (preferably utility bills; rental/lease; landline/cable bill; mortgage/homestead tax document; ID/DL and other docs as a last resort. Regular mail documents will not suffice.)

Please note that failing to provide these documents will delay enrollment processing and finalization. The documents listed above are required to complete a returning-student enrollment.  

Scenario: Transferring within PCS (currently enrolled in another PCS school, ALL grades PreK-5)

Step 1: Wait for your new school to complete the transfer.

In order to process an in-district transfer, your new school must have a reservation. This is not necessarily for you to complete - however, without a reservation, the new school cannot initiate a transfer from your current school. 

Step 2: Present two proofs of address at the new school.

Since your student is already enrolled in a PCS school - the only items you will have to present to your new school is:

• Two Proofs of Residency (preferably utility bills; rental/lease; landline/cable bill; mortgage/homestead tax document; ID/DL and other docs as a last resort. Regular mail documents will not suffice.)

Please note that failing to provide these documents will delay enrollment processing and finalization. An in-district transfer cannot be completed without two proofs of address being provided to the new school.

Resource: Full K-5 Enrollment Packet