Chimacum Creek Primary School Sets a High Bar, and Delivers Excellent Results

News by Scott France

CHIMACUM, WA — Children entering kindergarten at the Chimacum Creek Primary School have demonstrated readiness almost seven times higher in the current school year than in the 2023-24 school year across all six developmental and learning domains on the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS).

The dramatic readiness score rise—to 83 percent, from 12 percent two years ago—may be attributed largely to changes that the school has implemented in the past two years.

Laying a foundation to support better learning and skills-building 

“When I came to the school in 2023, I found out what teachers needed to help students grow over time," said Sarah Walker, principal of the Chimacum Creek Primary School, “One thing they needed to understand was how the assessment works. So we partnered with our local Education Service District, and we brought in trainers to make sure everybody knew how to do these assessments. Kindergarten readiness is based on five domains: physical, cognitive, behavioral, social and emotional.”

These measures are supported by the district's commitment to providing each of the classrooms with access to the same high quality materials, Walker said. Instructional blocks were created that focused on play for fun as well as foundational skills in reading and math. 

The Early Learning program has a half-day preschool option for 3-year-olds and young 4-year-olds, and a full-day Transition to Kindergarten (TK) option for 4-year-olds.

Both programs apply a play-based curriculum focused on social and emotional learning. 

“Play and social learning helps kids learn and get skills that they need faster,” Walker said, “It's also a great way for kids to develop their social emotional learning skills.”

The students’ day

A typical day for the preschoolers starts with some outdoor recess time, including circling up and greeting everyone and learning songs. The indoor time which follows includes playtime at different activity centers around the classroom.

The preschool, TK and kindergarten students make a play plan, which they communicate and perform, after which they come together to share what they did. Teachers help solve any social emotional problems that come up, like sharing and engaging in dialogue.

“They're building cognitive skills and language skills by talking about what they’re doing,” Walker explained, “They're building executive functioning skills by planning on reflecting on what they did. And they're building physical and social and literacy domains by their choices of toys.”

Help from the community

“The preschool program is designed as an inclusive preschool, so it's designed for students who have developmental delays or different special education needs and those kids are funded by the state, but typically developing students are not funded by the state under that preschool model,” Walker said.

The preschool program is supported in part by generous donations from local community partners such as the Association of American University Women, and the Rotary, which allows the program to be free.

Governor Bob Ferguson’s proposed 2026 supplemental state budget includes significant

reductions to early learning programs statewide, including a proposal to eliminate more than 1,800 slots (roughly 25%) in the Transition to Kindergarten. 

That funding reduction would translate into a reduction from 29 slots in the TK program to 21. 

Families who are interested in enrolling their children can do so either by filling out enrollment forms on the Chimacum Creek Primary School website shown below, in person at the school, or by calling 360-302-5820 to get more information. 

Enrollment for the Fall 2026 term is underway. Children must live in the Chimacum School District to be eligible for admittance. If the number of applicants succeeds the available slots, preference will be given to students who need extra support.

The Chimacum Creek Primary School website is: https://ccp.csd49.org