Admissions

We are now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 school year.
The lottery will be held on February 27, 2025, at 4pm.

Join us for school tours on January 9 and 30!
The tour at the Lower School begins at noon on those days. The tour at the Upper School begins at 1pm.
No preregistration is required.

Our second “drop-in” Open House will be on February 11, from 5:30-7:00pm at both schools. We hope to see you there!

Admission Policy
Approved by the Board of Directors September 24, 2014; amended February 7, 2020.

The Hawbridge School 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 a charter school. To qualify to attend a North Carolina public school, a student must be a resident of North Carolina. County boundaries or school attendance areas do not affect charter school enrollment. The Hawbridge School does not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or ancestry.

1. Applying to The Hawbridge School lottery: Parents, please be advised we will be using a third-party system, Lotterease, to run our enrollment lottery for transparency and fairness. Lotterease is a self-serve website that manages the Enrollment Lottery and the Waiting List that is created post-lottery. Registered Lotterease users can log into their account 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to check their student’s status.

Since Lotterease is an independent system, the school staff do not have the ability to manipulate or adjust the lottery outcome.  In addition, all activity that takes place with your application is tracked in a history log that you can view at any time by logging into the parent portal.

As of 2021-2022, Hawbridge serves kindergarten through twelfth grade. In order to apply for our lottery, please read the following carefully before visiting the Lotterease site.

a. To register an account for the first time in Lotterease, go to the Parents tab of www.lotterease.com, click the Login button, then select REGISTRATION.

b.  Create a Lotterease Parent/Guardian Account by entering your parent/guardian contact information on this screen – DO NOT ENTER YOUR STUDENT’S INFORMATION. The information you enter on this screen is the only information we have to contact the parent/guardian if your student is selected, please double-check for accuracy and keep it up to date throughout the entire school year.

c.   Select ADD CHILD, then enter the appropriate lottery information for the 2023-24 school year:

i.   School Name: The Hawbridge School (be sure to look for us under “T[he]” and not “H”), then select “submit.”
ii.   Lottery name: Select the appropriate grade and school year. Then, select “submit.”
iii.  VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you select the wrong grade or preference level and do not correct it, your student will be entered into the lottery for the grade level you selected incorrectly. If you are subsequently offered a spot in an incorrect lottery your spot will be forfeited, and you must then enter your child on the waitlist for the correct grade that your student should have been placed in. The Hawbridge School is not responsible for parent/guardian errors in the application process. Please double-check your applications for accuracy. Proof of residency and/or preference documentation will be required for enrollment of all students.

d. Please read the APPLICATION PREFERENCE GROUP page carefully and select any group that defines your student. If none apply, simply hit “submit” without making a selection. (The preference criteria are also listed below on this webpage, under “enrollment priority.”)

e.  If you have multiple children applying (already-enrolled children do not need to reapply), please continue to add them using the ADD SIBLING button located on the left-hand side of the screen. Please note, only siblings should be linked on Lotterease accounts. Do not add any other relatives (grandchildren, cousins, friends, etc.) to your Lotterease account.

f. Confirmation will come from [email protected]. If you do not receive an automated confirmation email within a few minutes of adding your student to a lottery, please check your SPAM folder. 

g. Once you have created a Lotterease Parent Account you will be able to:

1. 1. • Monitor your student’s application or waitlist status 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
      • Edit your account (update email addresses and/or phone number, etc.) – It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to keep this information up to date, this is the only way we have to contact you if your child is offered a spot.
      • Add your student to additional waiting lists or lotteries.
      • Remove your student from the lottery if you change your mind.
      • Accept or decline if your student is selected.

h. Lottery Results: After the lottery is run, you will receive an email and a text message if your child was selected, and an email if your child was waitlisted.

i. Please be sure to add [email protected] as an email contact to ensure important emails do not go to spam. The Hawbridge School is not responsible for emails or deadlines that are missed.

For a visual representation of completing an application, please view the Lotterease Parent Manual.

Apply Now

Disclaimer for Parents: Please be advised that if you falsify any information during registration or enrollment, your child’s application will be null and void, and admittance will be revoked. Any applications found to be falsified will be placed at the bottom of the waitlist.

2. Enrollment Period: February 29 through October 1. Any openings from the start of school through October 1st will be filled from the waiting list. Openings that occur after October 1st will not be filled.
3. The Hawbridge School shall offer enrollment to an applicant who submits a completed application during the application period and meets the legal admission requirements unless the number of applications submitted by eligible applicants during the application period exceeds the capacity of the grade level to which an applicant is seeking enrollment.
4. If the number of applications submitted by eligible applicants during the application period exceeds the capacity of the grade level to which they are seeking enrollment, then acceptance for any oversubscribed grade level shall be determined by lottery.
5. The School may give enrollment priority in certain instances as stated in G.S. 115C- 218.45(f). Priority will be given as follows:

• • Siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the charter school in a previous year
  • Siblings who apply to the charter school for admission beginning in the same school year, such as when a sibling was not initially admitted due to grade-level capacity
  • Children of Hawbridge faculty or Board members
  • Students who were enrolled within the two previous school years but left the school (i)
    to participate in an academic study abroad program or a competitive admission residential program or (ii) because of the vocational opportunities of the student’s parent;
  • Siblings, half-siblings, and step-siblings of currently enrolled students who reside in the same household as the currently enrolled student
  • Siblings of students who have graduated from Hawbridge and who were enrolled in at least four grade levels offered by Hawbridge.

6. Applications received after the lottery is run will be added to the end of the waiting list for the grade level that they are applying. Lottery procedures will comply with the NC Open Meetings Laws provided in G.S. 143-318.10(a).
7. If, prior to the end of the enrollment period (October 1st), a position becomes available in the grade level for which a waiting list exists, then the school may offer enrollment in that program, class, or grade level to the next applicant on the waiting list.
8. The waiting list will remain in place for the applicable enrollment period. After such time, a new waiting list will be created based on the next year’s applicant pool. The application process will start new each year with all interested applicants needing to reapply.
9. Once enrolled, students are not required to enroll in subsequent enrollment periods. In order to properly plan, the school may routinely inquire of parents in early spring through letters of intent to ascertain if students will return to Hawbridge the following year.
10. Priority enrollment given to children of staff and board members will not exceed more than 15% of the total student body.

For questions about admissions contact

Jennifer Shelton, Upper School Director, at [email protected]

In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, religion, sex, familial status, sexual orientation, and reprisal. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to:

USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410 Washington, DC 20250-9410

Or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.”