Lottery Application

Lottery Application for 2024-25 Now Open!

The lottery application for enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year is open from November 1, 2023 through March 14, 2024. Monterey Bay Charter School will hold the lottery on Thursday, March 16, 2023. Parents/Guardians will be notified of the results via email no later than March 31, 2024. Families that are offered a seat will have 3 days to accept or decline the offer before the seat is offered to the next family. Applications received after March 1, 2024 will be added to our waitlist.

Also enrolling for the 2023-2024 school year! An offer of enrollment will be made as seats become available. For additional information, please email the Enrollment Coordinator at office@mbcharterschool.org.

Immunization Requirements

California state law requires that children receive a course of immunizations to attend school or day care in California. Personal Belief Exemptions are no longer accepted. In addition, medical exemptions need to be filled through CAIR-ME ( California Immunization Registry Medical Exemption).

Kindergarten Entry: Students must be fully immunized according to State requirements.
7th Grade Entry: A Tdap booster is required by the State in addition to all other previously required immunizations. A student must be fully immunized or he/she will not be admitted to school.

For more information on immunization requirements, please visit: www.shotsforschool.org

Open House

Annual Open House:
The Open House includes open classrooms, talk with teachers and parents, review curriculum, subjects taught, and extra-curricular program. Kindergarten teachers are also on site with classroom materials and available to answer questions.

School Tours

Tours by Appointment Only
Please schedule a tour of either our Monterey campus, for prospective Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd Grade students, or our Pacific Grove campus, for prospective 3rd Grade through 8th Grade students. All participants must register prior to the school tour. Call our PG campus office in advance, if you need to cancel your appointment: 831-655-4638.

Faculty/Staff

Curriculum

Subject Classes

Prospective Families‎

Frequently Asked Questions

COVID-19 Safety Protocols
Our goal is to continue to have school in the most normal way possible. We will continue to implement COVID -19 safety procedures (frequent hand washing, masks required at all times indoors, safe cleaning and fogging of classrooms each night and free weekly asymptomatic Covid tests for all students who wish to have one). We will continue to provide updates as we receive further guidance from the California Department of Public Health. The attached slide deck (Click Here to View) should answer many of our families’ questions regarding the extensive safety measures MBCS will be taking this school year to ensure our faculty and students remain safe while at school. The slide deck is an extrapolation of the highlights from our Covid 19 Safety Program.
Click Here to View the Full Safety Plan
School Campuses and Office Hours
The Pacific Grove Campus is located at 1004 David Avenue in Pacific Grove. Students in Grades 3rd through 8th attend the Pacific Grove campus. Our office is open by appointment only Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Phone: 831-655-4638; Fax: 831-655-4815.

The Foothill Campus is located at 1700 Via Casoli in Monterey. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grade students attend the Foothill campus. The Foothill Campus office is open by appointment only Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.  

School Hours
Kindergarten: Every day 8:30 am to 12:30 pm
1st and 2nd Grade: M, T, W, F 8:30 am to 3:00 pm and Th 8:30 am to 1:00 pm
3rd – 8th Grade: M, T, W, F 8:15 am to 3:15 pm and Th 8:15 am to 1:15 pm. 

Transportation
MBCS does not offer school buses. We encourage carpooling amongst families who have students at both campuses.

Morning and After Care
Monterey Bay Charter School will be providing morning and aftercare at both campuses this school year. Drop-ins allowed. Families can sign up for morning care and aftercare on ParentSquare. 

Morning Care at the Foothill Campus
7:15 am to 8:15 am. Drop off your child at the school office.  

Morning Care at the Pacific Grove Campus
7:15 am to 8:00 am
. Drop off your child at the Resource Room.

After Care at the Foothill Campus 
12:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Students can be picked up at the school office. 

After Care at the Pacific Grove Campus
3:15 pm to 6:00 pm and 1:15pm to 6:00 pm on Thursdays. Students can be picked up at the Resource Room. 

School Lunches
Breakfast and Lunch Service at Both Campuses
Monterey Bay Charter School will provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. Families can sign up for complimentary breakfast and lunch for their student(s) on ParentSquare.

Please Note: All lunch orders must be placed by Wednesday at midnight for the following week. You may pre-order as many weeks as you would like. These lunches are complementary and delivered to your student’s classroom. Order Your Lunch Here.

2022-2023 Monterey Bay Charter School Calendar
Our school calendar with school breaks and holidays can be found here.

You can also see our Calendar Page.

Family Giving and School Supplies
Monterey Bay Charter School provides all students with $150 of quality school supplies to be used throughout the school year (no trip to Target needed!). However,we ask that you give what your family can afford to help offset this cost and to support our school programming. This amount can be from $25-$100 a month or more. This number will ensure that we can continue to offer the diverse and rich curriculum that makes our school special. We depend on these contributions to support classroom needs and anything the state does not cover.

Family Giving and School Supply donations can be made here.

We only ask that every student come to school with a backpack, reusable lunch bag and layered clothing each day. Please refer to the dress code in the Family Handbook.

Sample of the amazing school supplies we provide to each student at MBCS:

School Overview‎

Program

Curriculum
MBCS’s curriculum and approach to teaching reflects the developmental stages of childhood. The school participates in Common Core State testing and uses benchmark testing to determine and track academic proficiency and fluency. All class teachers hold a California teaching credential and receive Waldorf training.

Methods derive from an instructional model that recognizes the specific developmental stages of the child. The educational philosophy views education as an art, so each subject, whether math, biology or English, is presented in a way that addresses the child’s developmental stage. Each subject is presented through direct experience and is often augmented with art, poetry, music, or drama.

In the early grades, the curriculum provides an unhurried way of learning that protects childhood while encouraging children’s creative expression and fostering their imagination. As children mature, the learning process accelerates and provides a program that meets students where they are developmentally.

The teacher’s aim is to draw out the child’s inherent capacities by creating an atmosphere in the classroom that fills the children with interest, wonder and enthusiasm.

Class Size
The school has three Kindergarten classes and two classes in each of the 1st-8th grades. Class sizes are 24 students for each Kindergarten, 30 students for each class in grades one through five, and 32 students for each class in grades sixth through eighth. Class teachers typically stay with the same class through the course of several grade levels, enabling a strong understanding of the students and their progress.
Class Teacher
Each elementary school child (grades 1-8) begins and ends the school day with an individual greeting and a firm handshake from the Class Teacher. Teachers often say with students for several years.

This continuity enables a deep understanding of each student’s strengths and challenges and supports the development of a rich social dynamic in the class. The class teacher is also able to bring continuity to the curriculum as well, unifying the various disciplines over the years. At the same time, working with new subject matter at every grade level inspires class teachers with enthusiasm.

The morning Main Lesson immerses the students in a particular academic subject of the curriculum over three or four weeks, and each child produces a hand written and illustrated Main Lesson book for each subject. The class teacher works with each child to draw out the child’s strengths and focus on areas in need of improvement.

Student Evaluation & Reporting
Students are evaluated through comprehensive written reports sent to parents at the end of the school year. Grades and traditional report cards are not given, however, formal parent/teacher conferences are held twice in the school year providing a detailed progress report for each student. Benchmark testing is administered in each grade and students take the California standardized test each spring.

Teaching methods include:

  • Teacher-led explicit instruction.
  • Student discovery.
  • Group work and independent practice.
  • Peer study groups.
  • Structured and guided practice.
  • Regular assessment and re-teaching as necessary.

Assessment Tools:

  • Benchmark tests
  • Standardized tests
  • In class tests and quizzes
  • Portfolios
  • Observation/evaluation
  • Self-evaluation
  • Group projects

Special points of interest:

  • Teachers may stay with their class from grade to grade, however, most loop up only with the lower grades or upper grades.
  • Handwork and Spanish instruction begins in grade one.
  • Norm referenced state standardized tests are administered in compliance with state law.
  • The curriculum and deep learning approach prepares students well for high school. Students attend their local high school, a private high school such as York, or a program such as MAOS at Monterey High School.
Waldorf-Inspired Method
With the Waldorf-Inspired method, the class teacher involves the children in the subject through the following methods:

  • Presentation
  • Story Telling
  • Writing
  • Reading
  • Recitation
  • Dramatic Acting
  • Painting
  • Drawing
  • Movement

Throughout the lesson, the teacher amplifies the subject matter and the students add to their Main Lesson books. The involvement of the students in the Main Lesson develops active listening, imagination, memory and verbal skills.

Special Education
Our focus is to provide each student with high quality, effective specialized academic instruction and related support services to support each learner in achieving their full educational, emotional, vocational, and social potential. The type of support each student needs, and how it is delivered, is determined through evaluations/assessments and in collaboration with parents and the school’s IEP Team (Individualized Education Program).

More for information about our Special Education Program, please visit this website.

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