Kindergarten Admissions - All Campuses

 

Background

Kamehameha currently has 3 campuses, one each on O`ahu, Hawai`i and Maui. Applications to kindergarten are accepted for all three sites. Each campus has island residency requirements.

 

Residency/Boundary Requirements

Kapalama, O`ahu Campus: Applicant and parents or legal guardians are residents of O`ahu

Maui Campus: Applicant and parents or legal guardians are residents of Maui

Hawai`i Campus: Applicant and parents or legal guardians are residents of Hawai`i island

 

Who May Apply to Kindergarten for the 2007-2008 School Year

 

Number of Openings

O`ahu: The Kapalama Campus on O`ahu has 80 openings each year (4 classrooms each with 20 children). Admissions receives about 1,200 kindergarten applications from O`ahu each year. The applicant to acceptance ratio at this site is 15:1.

Maui: The Maui Campus in Pukalani has 40 openings each year (2 kindergarten classrooms). Admissions receives about 250 kindergarten applications from Maui each year. The applicant to acceptance ratio at this site is 6:1.

Hawai`i: The Hawai`i Campus in Kea`au has 40 openings each year (2 kindergarten classrooms). Admissions receives about 250 kindergarten applications from Hawai`i each year. The applicant to acceptance ratio at this site is 6:1.

 

Selection Process

Admission to kindergarten is selective and, due to the large number of applicants, very competitive.

Applicants who meet the September 30th deadline are scheduled for individual standardized testing.

In the first phase of the kindergarten admission process, all applicants are administered a standardized test which covers basic concepts that most four and five year old children should know or be learning.

Once all tests have been administered and scored, the test scores are evaluated.

The applications are divided by district and sex and ranked by their test scores. Based on the strength of their test scores, a select number of students are asked to participate in the second phase of testing.

Children called back for the second phase of testing will participate in a classroom observation. They will be evaluated on their social skills.

Parents of students invited to participate in the second phase of testing are also asked to submit a Teacher Reference Report (filled out by their child's current preschool or kindergarten teacher). Once the observation testing has been completed, faculty rating committees will evaluate the applicants and determine an "overall" score for each child. The committee will select applicants with the highest overall scores within district, gender and orphan/indigent quotas.

 

Notification Dates

All preliminary notification letters will be mailed by March 1st. At that time students will be informed of their non-acceptance or they will be asked to return for the second phase of testing.

Students called back to participate in the second phase of testing will be mailed final notification letters by May 11th. Students who participate in the second phase of testing are either accepted or placed in the wait pool.

Replacements from the wait pool may be made at any time prior to the first day of school.

The Kapalama Campus wait pool is active for 4 years (through grade 3).

The Hawai`i and Maui Campus wait pools are active for 6 years (through grade 5).

 

Late Applications

Late applications are accepted, however, we do not guarantee that we will schedule late applicants for testing, due to time constraints. To meet notification deadlines, all testing must be completed by February 15th. Due to the large number of applicants, it is not always possible to accommodate people who missed the application deadline.
 

Kindergarten Test Information

Request a Kapalama Campus Kindergarten Application

Request a Maui Campus Kindergarten Application

Request a Hawai`i Campus Kindergarten Application

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Page Managed by: Diana Montez, KS Admissions Office