Why start at age 5?

It is important to know that at Latin, we believe the optimal time to start a child's academic journey is at five years. As child development is a key driver for academic, social, and emotional lessons at Latin, we believe children are best suited to begin their academic journey when they are five. We know five- and six-year-olds are able to “do school” and through our admissions assessment, we can arrive at a fairly accurate predictor of future academic success. Research illustrates that fine and gross motor skills, attention span, and cognitive abilities are syncing with independent life skills at a more predictable pace than with four-year-olds; hence, children can access all kinds of learning from analytical math problems to decoding to mastering the monkey bars. We also believe that early childhood programs like The Nest and other regional preschools that are designed to educate the young child are fantastic feeder programs for admission to Charlotte Latin School.