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Exceptions to Entrance Requirements

Home → Departments → Student Placement → Exceptions to Entrance Requirements

First Grade Entrance Age Requirement

Students must be six years old on or before August 31st of the school year if they wish to be admitted to first grade, unless they have successfully completed a Washington State approved public or private school kindergarten program.

Form 3110.2P – Exhibit A: Certification of Kindergarten Attendance by Under-Age 1st Grade Applicant must be completed by the kindergarten program, verifying that your student has met the requirements stated in the School Board Policy 3110P. This form should be completed toward the end of the school year after the student has completed the kindergarten program. The Certificate of Kindergarten Attendance form (form 3110.2P – Exhibit A)  must be submitted with the student’s enrollment paperwork. It will be forwarded to the principal of the student’s home attendance area school for an assessment to see if the student meets the social/emotional and academic requirements for entry into first grade. The school may ask for a sample of the student’s work.

Please understand that a student who successfully completes a kindergarten program, may not succeed in the first-grade program, the District has the option of placing the student in kindergarten for evaluation to determine appropriate grade-level placement.

Early Entrance to Kindergarten

State and Bellevue School District guidelines require that students entering kindergarten in the fall must be five years of age on or before August 31st. However, a child whose birth date falls on or between September 1 and October 31 may enter kindergarten if they meet the early entrance requirements. To apply for Early Entrance to Kindergarten, students must be residents of the Bellevue School District or the student of an eligible Bellevue School District employee. Learn more on our Early Entrance to Kindergarten page.

Student Placement
The Bellevue School District acknowledges that we learn, work, live and gather on the Indigenous Land of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Duwamish and Snoqualmie Tribes. We thank these caretakers of this land, who have lived and continue to live here, since time immemorial.