New Student Applications

The initial new student application window for the 2024-25 school year will open on January 3, 2024 and remain open until February 29, 2024. The initial admissions lottery results from all schools will be released on March 11, 2024. You can submit an application here.

Admissions Policy and Procedures

As public schools, charter schools comply with state and federal regulations, and their admissions are open to students in accordance with the school’s charter agreement. The procedures below outline the admissions process at ANCS.

  • There will be an open admission period each year during which time any interested students may submit an admission application. The dates and times for this open admission period shall be established by the school each year and shall end no later than the last day of April for the school year beginning the fall of the same year.
  • Pursuant to the ANCS charter agreement, any un-enrolled siblings of a current ANCS student, children of current full-time employees, and children of current governing board members who submit complete admission application forms during the admission period will be registered for the following school year unless, among such students, there are not enough spaces available in any particular grade or program. In that case, such students will be enrolled based on a lottery to be held in an open forum on the date stated in the admission information.
  • Admission shall be open to any student who resides within the boundaries of an Atlanta Public School zone. The primary attendance zone is defined as the neighborhoods of Grant Park, Ormewood Park and Summerhill.
  • In the event, space remains available at the time of the application deadline set by the school, the attendance zone shall be expanded to include the secondary attendance zone of the remainder of Neighborhood Planning Unit W (NPU-W) and according to the application deadlines set by the school.
  • In the event space remains available at any grade level at the time of the application deadline set by the school, the attendance zone shall be expanded to include the tertiary attendance zone of the remainder of the Atlanta Public Schools district and according to the application deadlines set by the school.
  • The Governing Board shall establish the weight annually for each grade such that it maximizes the probability that 22.8% of new enrollees are economically disadvantaged.
  • If the Governing Board reasonably determines that it will not have sufficient lottery applications from students who are economically disadvantaged in Zone 1 and/or Zone 2 to make it statistically likely that 22.8% of newly enrolled students are economically disadvantaged, then randomly selected economically disadvantaged students from Zone 2 and/or Zone 3 may be placed in the lottery in numbers sufficient to make it statistically likely that 22.8% of newly enrolled students are economically disadvantaged.

If you have questions about whether your residence is within the boundaries of the primary or secondary attendance zone, please view the neighborhood and NPU maps on the city of Atlanta’s website.

The student’s place of residence must fall within the boundaries of an Atlanta Public School zone. If you have questions about whether your residence is zoned for Atlanta Public Schools, please contact the APS Office of Student Placement at 404-802-2233.

ANCS will accept new applications and enroll new students where space is available for the current school year until the last day before winter break.

The new student application window for the 2024-25 school year will be open from January 3, 2024 until February 29, 2024. Admission applications for new ANCS students are submitted through the Apply APS Charter Website.

Lottery and Waiting List

If a lottery is required after any admission application period, that lottery will be held in an open forum at the time and place listed in the admission materials. All lotteries will be conducted in a manner that is consistent with Georgia law.

If there are more applicants than spaces available for a certain grade level, then names of students who submitted an application by the deadline will be placed in a lottery for that grade level.  Students who are not selected for admission will be placed on a waiting list in the order in which their names were selected. Once all grades are filled or once the lottery, if necessary, is complete, any additional students who submit an application shall be placed at the end of the cumulative waiting list on a first come, first served basis.

To achieve diversity that is beneficial for students, ANCS utilizes a weighted component to its admissions lottery for “economically disadvantaged” students to increase their chance of admission as allowed under Georgia law.  New student applicants may voluntarily identify as economically disadvantaged when applying for the purposes of the weighted lottery.  “Economically disadvantaged” is defined as follows: students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, whose families live below the poverty line, or whose families qualify for one or more of the following federal benefits: SNAP, TANF, WIC, Medicaid, or PINS. 

All those applicants selected from the lottery will need to complete residency verification materials to become officially registered at ANCS. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit of enrollment. Applicants unable to verify the address provided to determine their attendance zone will be placed at the bottom of the wait list.

A waiting list will be formed if the number of applicants in the application and enrollment process exceeds the number of available spaces. 

As additional openings arise, enrollment will continue from the active waiting list in the order of applicants’ lottery numbers.

If at any point in the year the waiting list is depleted and the school determines that it has enrollment openings, then a new application and enrollment period will be declared. This will be announced throughout the city of Atlanta and families will have a one-month period of time in which to complete the requirements for application to the school. In this case, a new lottery would be conducted one week after the close of the application period.

For the complete board-approved enrollment policies, please see the Student and Family – Academic Program Policies section of our Policy Guide.

Enrollment Priority Policy

Based on current state law and the ANCS charter, the following constitutes the ANCS enrollment priority policy for siblings and children of employees and governing board members:

  • Full time employee is defined as an employee who works more than 50% (at least 20 hours or more) AND qualifies for benefits.
  • Siblings of students enrolled in ANCS are given priority enrollment. Sibling priority is handled as outlined in the charter.
  • Children of full-time employees and of governing board members are given priority enrollment.
  • Employees and governing board members with students currently enrolled at ANCS participate in the enrollment process for current and incoming students outlined in the school’s enrollment policy.
  • When a new employee signs a contract their student is enrolled in ANCS if space permits, if space does not permit, the student is placed on the waitlist with waitlist priority standing (defined below).
  • When a governing board member is elected/appointed to the board their student is enrolled in ANCS if the student meets the ANCS residency requirements and if space permits; if space does not permit, the student is placed on the waitlist with waitlist priority standing (defined below).
  • If an employee contract is terminated, or not renewed, and their student meets the residency requirements, the student may remain enrolled at ANCS. However, if the student does not meet the ANCS residency requirements, they are no longer eligible for residency exemption and must be withdrawn from ANCS, per state law.
  • If a board member leaves or is removed from the board during their term or once their term is completed, their student may remain enrolled at ANCS as long as the ANCS residency requirements are met. If the residency requirements are not met, the student is no longer eligible for residency exemption and must be withdrawn from ANCS.
Waitlist priority standing

Siblings, students of full-time employees and students of governing board members are eligible for waitlist priority. This means that these students are placed at the front of the waiting list if the conditions above are met. However, they may not be placed on the waitlist in front of another waitlist priority student. For example, if a sibling is first on the waitlist and a new employee is hired, the employee’s student would be placed on the waitlist behind the sibling student (into position #2). In other words, waitlist priority is first come first serve within the eligible categories of siblings, employee students and governing board students. In the rare chance that two enrollment priority students qualify for waitlist priority at the same time (within 24 hours of one-another) then the campus principal will perform a random lottery drawing to determine which student is placed first and which is placed second on the wait-list.