canandaigua city school district

Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK)

The UPK lottery for the 2024-25 school year will begin on Thursday, February 1st, 2024

Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) is a program for four-year-old's that is available for residents of the Canandaigua City School District. UPK is a grant funded program. Due to a limited number of seats, we will conduct a random lottery to select students. To be included in the lottery, parents/guardians will complete a series of forms and upload documents. Your child will not be included in the lottery, and placed on the waitlist unless all forms and documents are completed by Thursday, February 29, 2024. If your child does not receive a slot in the lottery, s/he will move to a waitlist and may receive a slot as they open. Participation in a Pre-Kindergarten program is not required for a student to be eligible for Kindergarten the following year, although it is great preparation for Kindergarten.

Children born between December 2, 2019 and December 1, 2020, are eligible.

UPK for the 2024-25 School Year is Free & Full-Day (8:35AM - 3:05PM)

UPK Registration and Information 2024-25 School Year

UPK Registration Steps

Step 1 – To Include your child in the lottery, parents/guardians will start by filling out the initial registration form, which will be available on this page starting February 1st, 2024. Once the form is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email from student registration.

Step 2 – After submitting the initial registration form, you will receive another email from student registration indicating the required forms and documents needed to be included in the UPK lottery. You must complete all documents and forms included in the email by Thursday, February 29, 2024. See the registration requirements section on this webpage for more information.

Step 3 – The registrar will review submitted documents and forms and send a confirmation email letting you know that your student will be included in the lottery. Please note, if you have any required documents not submitted by the deadline, your child will not be part of the lottery and will be placed on the waitlist.

Step 4 - The registrar will work with parents/guardians to schedule a day and time for an in-person UPK screening. Screenings will take place March 4th - March 8th and will be conducted by our Primary School teachers. More information regarding screenings will be shared during registration. 

Step 5 - On or about April 1, 2023, parents/guardians will be notified by email of your child's UPK placement or if your child is waitlisted. If you are waitlisted, we will notify you as soon as possible in the event that a slot opens up.

Registration Requirements

We would be happy to answer any questions related to Canandaigua’s UPK registration. Please call the Registrar at (585)396-3948 or email StudentRegistration@CanandaiguaSchools.org.