Thank you for your interest in Falls Lake Academy!
Falls Lake Academy is a tuition-free public school. Any child who is qualified under the laws of North Carolina for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to FLA. FLA does not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion or ancestry. Children must be 5 (or older) on or before August 31, 2023 to be eligible of the school year for which they wish to enroll.
Falls Lake Academy will be taking applications beginning January 2nd, 2024 and ending at 5pm on March 1, 2024. Applications will be accepted for Kindergarten through 12th grade for the 2024-2025 school year.
Applications
Applications will be accepted electronically. Electronic submission of applications offers families the ability to apply within minutes. After submitting the application, you will be able to review the information submitted and an email confirmation will also be sent out. If you do not receive an email confirmation, please contact the school office. If you are unable to do an electronic application from home, contact our office staff. Families wishing to apply after the March 1st deadline may still complete an application electronically. The child's name will be placed at the end of the waitlist after the lottery has taken place.
Lottery
The lottery will take place on March 15, 2024 at 10:00am via Zoom. The public is welcome to attend the event, however, attendance will not affect a child’s admission to FLA. Enrollment forms will be available via SchoolMint beginning March 15, 2024 for each student admitted through the lottery. This enrollment forms must be completed through SchoolMint by March 29, 2024. This will be used to confirm your commitment to Falls Lake Academy and release your student’s records from their current school. Failure to complete your enrollment forms by the deadline will nullify your student's acceptance.
FLA 2023 Lottery Recording
Siblings
Siblings of current Falls Lake Academy students and children of current Falls Lake Academy full time staff members are admitted before the lottery to any available spots for the grade in which that student is applying. If there are more siblings applying than spots available there will be a lottery held among siblings of Falls Lake Academy students before the lottery of the general public. Reminder that students who are twins, triplets, etc. must each complete an application. However, only one application will be entered in the lottery for those students. If that application is accepted, the sibling's twin or triplet, etc. will also be admitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can apply to Falls Lake Academy?
Falls Lake Academy is a tuition free public charter school. FLA admits students without regard to race, sex, disability, color, religion, nationality or ethnic origin. Any child who resides in NC and is eligible to attend Kindergarten through 12th grade may apply.
Does my child that is a current student at FLA need to reapply?
No. Current Falls Lake Academy students do not need to re-apply for admission or enter the lottery process again. They are required to submit a letter of intent for the upcoming school year. This intent letter is due in the month of February in order to determine any additional openings for the lottery. This form is emailed to parents via Jupiter to every Firebird family early in February.
My child is currently on the waitlist for this year. How does this affect applications for next year?
The current waitlist for the 2023-2024 school year is no longer valid after December of 2023 for admission. All students that have not been admitted will need to re-apply for admission for the 2024-2025 school year starting on January 2, 2024 through March 1, 2024.
How does my child apply to Falls Lake Academy?
Applications for the 2024-2025 school year will be available beginning January 2nd, 2024 and must be submitted on or before 5pm on March 1st, 2024. Applications can be completed electronically. A computer is available in our front office for application submission. All applications submitted electronically will receive a confirmation email. A lottery will be held on Friday, March 15th at 10:00am to fill any available seats. Those students who are accepted into available spots will be notified via email and enrollment packets will be available electronically the day of the lottery via SchoolMint. Those students that are not accepted into the available spots will receive an email detailing their waitlist position.
Do we have to be present at the actual lottery?
No, you do not. Although you are welcome to attend, please be aware that your attendance does not affect the outcome. We anticipate the lottery will take about 1 hour, after which emails will be sent with student specific results to all applicants. In an effort to make the actual lottery day quick and efficient, we use a computer program to randomly assign a number to each applicant at the lottery. The number assigned by the program will determine a students’ acceptance or waitlist position.
Do siblings of current students get priority? What if there are not enough seats for siblings?
Yes, Siblings of currently enrolled students get priority in the admission process. In the event that we have more sibling applicants than available seats, not all siblings will be accepted. A sibling wait list will be established.
I have twins. How do I apply for them?
In accordance with North Carolina charter law, if multiple birth siblings apply for admissions and a lottery is needed, the charter school shall enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the multiple birth siblings. If that surname is selected, then all of the multiple birth siblings shall be admitted. So, an application would be submitted for each individual sibling, but only one lottery number would be assigned to the multiple birth siblings. In the event that a seat is available and the lottery number that represents multiple children is next on the waitlist, all multiple birth siblings with that lottery number would be offered admission.
How many openings do you have per grade? What are my chances of acceptance?
As we get closer to the end of the school year, we anticipate having some spots in all grades levels. However, we will not know exact numbers until our current students complete a letter of intent. We will hold a lottery for all grades K-12, and waitlists will be established for all grades once all spots are filled. If a space opens up in a grade level after our March 15th lottery, we use the 2024-2025 waitlist to fill spots.