
Under Connecticut State Law, children must be age 5 on or before January 1st to attend public school that year, and thus could start Kindergarten as early as 4 years and 9 months old. As a result, most nursery school programs require that the child must turn 3 by January 1st to ensure a fall start of that same year and thus could start a Pre-K 3 program at a school year program as early as 2 years and 9 months old.
Note that year-round childcare centers and family childcare providers offer a preschool curriculum for 3 and 4 year olds and can take children as young as 6 weeks if they have an infant/toddler program. So if you need care to work your child does not need to sign up for both childcare and a school year nursery/preschool program.
So, when can your child start school? This chart shows when they are eligible based on their birth year.
Birth Year | Pre-K 3 | Pre-K 4 | Kindergarten |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Fall 2018 | Fall 2019 | Fall 2020 |
2016 | Fall 2019 | Fall 2020 | Fall 2021 |
2017 | Fall 2020 | Fall 2021 | Fall 2022 |
2018 | Fall 2021 | Fall 2022 | Fall 2023 |
2019 | Fall 2022 | Fall 2023 | Fall 2024 |
2020 | Fall 2023 | Fall 2024 | Fall 2025 |
2021 | Fall 2024 | Fall 2025 | Fall 2026 |
2022 | Fall 2025 | Fall 2026 | Fall 2027 |
Preschool enrollment begins during the winter-early spring of the start year, depending on the program. See the Preschool Options or Kindergarten Registration pages for specific registration dates. Most year-round childcare providers accept children at any time, based on availability, but will have more openings at the end of the summer as the 4 year olds in their care leave for kindergarten and the other classes move up.