Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program, or VPK, is a free educational program that prepares 4-year-olds for success in kindergarten and beyond. Children must live in Florida and be 4 on or before September 1st of the school year they enroll. Parents whose children are born between February 2nd and September 1st of the calendar year may postpone enrolling their 4-year-old until the following year when their child is 5.
To Register Your Child for VPK:
To register your child for VPK, go to www.elcduval.org/voluntary-pre-k where you will create an account and complete the application process.
Questions? Call 208-2044
Why Enroll Your Child:
- The most important growth and development in the brain happens by age five (5).
- The early years are the learning years and children who participate in high quality childhood education programs develop better language skills, score higher on assessment tests, have better social skills, have fewer behavioral problems, and are
more likely to graduate from high school. - VPK children have a beginning understanding of leadership.
- 4-year-old children love to move and VPK helps to increase their coordination and motor skills that open up new opportunities for active exploration.
- VPK provides hands-on experiences that have been planned by knowledgeable teachers.
- Florida’s VPK standards were not developed to be “one size fits all.” Children learn at different rates and have different experiences, abilities, and interests.
- VPK opens the door to a world of learning, discovery and creativity, exposing children to many different types of books so they are ready to learn to read and write when they begin school.
- VPK standards includes 5 main components: listening, speaking, vocabulary, sentences and conversation.
