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CHS is committed to providing enrolled children and families with:

Educator working with an infantHigh quality early education and care from a team of dedicated, highly qualified educators and staff.

Student eating lunchComprehensive support for children’s needs beyond academics, including health and nutrition, early intervention, transportation, and more.

Family Success AdvocateFamily Success Advocates to help navigate needs, access resources and educational programming, and establish a personalized plan to reach each family’s goals.

Family members reading materialsOngoing commitment to growth and excellence through measurement of not only child and family progress, but also CHS program outcomes and success.

State-of-the-art facilitiesState-of-the-art facilities designed to meet the needs of children and families, including dynamic age-level classrooms, indoor and outdoor play spaces, a STEM Garden, Family Success Center, and more.

Ages served

Infants

6 weeks to 12 months old

Younger toddler

1 to 2 years old

Older toddler

2 to 3 years old

Preschool

3 to 5 years old

Siblings with parent

Minimum admissions qualifications

A child must meet the following criteria:

Come from an income-eligible family

Be six weeks to 4 years old at the time of enrollment

Have the ability to participate in and benefit from the CHS program

CHS receives many more applications than it can accept. This is due to limited space in our centers and our desire to maintain small class sizes with low teacher-to-child ratios. As a result, meeting the minimum admissions qualifications does not guarantee a child’s enrollment.

Family holding a child

Family commitments and expectations

We believe a strong partnership between CHS and our enrolled families is critical to the successful growth and development of the children in our care. As such, we ask our families to uphold specific commitments as we work together to provide children with the foundation for lifelong success. Some of these commitments include:

  • Regular attendance of children, year round, five days a week
  • Ongoing participation in our quarterly home visiting program
  • Collaboration with a Family Success Advocate to complete goal setting
  • Attendance at a minimum of three parent-teacher conferences per year
  • Participation in data collection/research as needed to understand child progress and program outcomes
  • Collaboration with CHS staff, partners, and community agencies to meet the needs of your family and self

The admissions process

Application

Step 1 Submit application Submit the online application.
Step 2 Provide documentation We will reach out to gather additional information.

On-site visit

Step 3 Schedule interview If eligible, we will contact you to schedule an in-person interview.
Step 4 Conditionally accepted Following the interview, your child may be conditionally accepted to CHS.

New family orientation

Step 5 Home
visit
A Family Success Advocate will meet with your family at your home.
Step 6 Now
enrolled
We will start to prepare you for your child’s first day at CHS!

Our locations

CHS Hershey

Catherine Hershey Schools Hershey Location
Now open. Request information about fall 2024 admissions consideration.

CHS Harrisburg

Catherine Hershey Schools Harrisburg Location
Opening in 2024. Apply now for fall 2024 admissions consideration.

CHS Middletown

Catherine Hershey Schools Middletown
Opening in 2025. Admissions will begin in early 2025. Sign up below to be notified of admissions updates for this center.

CHS Centers will also be opening in Lancaster City, New Danville, and Elizabethtown starting in 2026. Requesting admissions information for these Centers has not yet begun.

Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning are subsidiaries of Milton Hershey School and will be staffed and operated independently of the Milton Hershey School core model.

Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.