Frequently Asked Questions

Leila Day's enrollment process begins each November for enrollment the following September. Families can apply online or request assistance applying by contacting our office at 203-624-1374. We do not charge an application fee, nor does filling out an application obligate your family to pursue enrollment.

Due to the pandemic, we will be substituting an online information session rather than an in-person tour. The information session is a chance for families to meet with some of our staff to gain an understanding of our philosophy, practices, and programs, and ask questions.

Enrollment contracts are mailed to new families in late January and must be returned within two weeks, or the spot may be offered to another family. When families sign the enrollment contract, a non-refundable enrollment fee is due. Since we often receive more applications than we have available spaces, some children are offered a place on our waitlist, and we notify families if and when spaces become available.

Please note that children applying for preschool must be turning at least 3 by December 31 of the year for which they are applying. For example, if you are applying for the 2022-23 school year, your child must be at least 3 years old (for preschool) or 5 years old (for Kindergarten) by December 31st, 2022.

Leila Day has been helping working families provide care for their children since 1878, originally serving children of immigrants working in the garment factories of New Haven nearly 150 years ago.  We continue to honor that history by working hard to ensure that our programs are accessible to families of diverse economic means.  Our full-day Preschool, Kindergarten, and After School program tuition are based on a sliding scale determined by family income. We also participate in Connecticut’s School Readiness and Care4Kids programs, which offer additional subsidies to qualified families. To be able to offer financial aid to more than 60 percent of our families, we have a proud tradition of active fundraising efforts by our staff, Board and current families, and we are fortunate for the generosity of many individual donors, including many former families who benefited from Leila Day’s financial aid in the past. To receive financial aid, families must provide financial information through the application process.

The schedule for all full-day programs includes a quiet time when the teachers help children relax their bodies and rest their minds. Children in our preschool programs bring a comforting blanket, pillow or soft toy to their cot to rest or sleep in the early afternoon. Children who don’t fall asleep may bring a book or quiet activity to their cot. Kindergarten rest time may include a guided meditation, a mindfulness exercise, soft music or a book on tape. Kindergarteners might sleep, sketch, journal, or read. Rest time provides children with a balance to their busy and interactive days, and practice at being calm and quiet with themselves.

Leila Day’s chef prepares breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack on-site daily.  The bi-weekly menus are always posted on our website. Fresh fruits and vegetables are served every day and most of our food is made “from scratch.” Family-style meal service is an integral part of our school culture, with children and adults all eating together. During meals, rich conversations happen, and children learn practical skills such as table manners and utensil use.

We do not make menu modifications for individual taste preferences, as young children can be notoriously picky eaters! However, every meal has multiple components, and children always find something they like to eat. We do adjust our menu for individual children with any documented food allergies or medical restrictions, and we accommodate vegetarian and pescatarian eaters. We do not serve any pork or pork products, and we are a nut-free school. While observing any required restrictions, we encourage children to try new foods. Parents are often pleasantly surprised by what children eat when they see their friends and teachers enjoying something new at school!

We do not require that children be toilet trained in order to attend Leila Day as we understand that this is one of many areas where children develop at different rates. For children who are not using the toilet at the time they start at Leila Day, teachers will work closely with the family to support the child’s achievement of that goal.

Attention to children’s social and emotional development is threaded throughout every aspect of teaching and learning at Leila Day. Leila Day’s goal is to help children develop the internal controls needed to behave appropriately in groups, both here and in the larger world. We want children to learn how to take care of themselves, how to take care of each other, and how to take care of their environment. Teachers spend a great deal of time talking with children about the expectations for their behavior at school, reminding them about daily routines and responsibilities, and helping children learn to identify and express their feelings. When conflicts arise, teachers suggest ways to work out problems with words and support children through the problem-solving process. As children become more skilled at communicating, sharing, and negotiating, teachers become less involved in mediation. Leila Day’s discipline policy complies with federal and state civil rights laws. Under no circumstances is it permissible for staff to use any form of physical punishment, psychological abuse, or coercion when disciplining a child.

Engaging in the natural world is one of Leila Day’s core values, and our curriculum has a special emphasis on outdoor learning. We are fortunate to have an extraordinary amount of outdoor space, and each classroom has its own carefully constructed outdoor classroom. Children go outside a minimum of twice every day regardless of the season, adhering to the belief that there is no bad weather, only the wrong clothing! We work with families to ensure that each child is adequately dressed to enjoy the experiences of each season, wearing rain boots, raincoats, and rain pants, snow pants, snow boots, winter coats, hats and waterproof gloves depending on the weather. We monitor weather advisories and do not go outdoors if there is an active wind, cold or heat advisory.