Where is Kino located ?
Kino is located on the northwest side of Tucson, Arizona, on First Avenue, just north of Orange Grove.
How long have you been around?
Kino opened its doors to students in January, 1976.
What ages are your students?
A child can start attending Kino as a Primary student if he or she will be 5 by January 1 of that school year. Students go to Kino through high school graduation.
How many students do you have?
We usually have around 70 .
If you don’t have grade levels, how are your students grouped ?
Children are considered Primary level through the year in which they turn 8.
Middle level students are generally ages 8 through 11.
Students who are 11 at the beginning of the year and are ready for junior high work are junior high students. Junior high is a three year program. To graduate from junior high, a student must have completed a variety of requirements that demonstrate that he or she is ready for high school.
A student enters high school upon graduation from junior high. To graduate from high school, a student must satisfy a number of requirements and earn at least 20 credits. High school is a four year program.
While we do have these groupings, students work with other age groups and with teachers for other age groups whenever it’s appropriate. For example, a middle level student may work with the middle level language arts teacher and be placed in a math or a Spanish class with junior high students. Junior high students frequently choose to satisfy their junior high requirements by taking high school classes.
What is your student teacher ratio?
It’s a little hard to calculate, but it’s amazing. We have 7 full-time teachers, plus 9 part-time teachers who seem to be around most of the time. In addition, parents and other volunteers often teach a class or organize a project. Many years we have student teachers, and teachers from outside of Kino often offer lessons at Kino for a fee (this is the case with Latin, ballroom dancing, piano, and yoga). Divide our average enrollment of 70 students by that and you’ll see why we really can give students lots of individualized attention and tailor our curriculum to meet their unique interests and abilities.
Are you accredited?
Yes, we are accredited by N.A.L.S.A.S.
How long is your school year ?
We follow a traditional school year calendar. Our first day of school is around Labor Day; our last day of school is around Memorial Day.
How long is your school day ?
The school day starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:00, except on Mondays, when it ends at 2:00 so the teachers can have a faculty meeting.
Students can be dropped off at school at 7:30. After school care is available every day until 5:30 for an extra charge.
What is the application process?
First, find out as much as you can about Kino. Call and talk to us, read our literature, schedule a tour for yourself and your child. If you are then interested in applying, we will arrange for your child to attend Kino for three days. At the end of the three day visit, you and your child will have a conference with one of the administrators and the homeroom teacher with whom your child has been placed. Depending on available space, admission will be determined by whether it looks like Kino is the right school for your child.
We encourage people to try to schedule three day visits before May for admission for the following year. If that’s not possible, and if we have available space, we will provisionally admit students and then schedule a three day conference within the first week or two of the new school year.
