Goochland schools open 2026-27 kindergarten registration, screenings set for April 9

Goochland County Public Schools opened online kindergarten registration for the 2026-27 school year April 6, and families with rising kindergartners had to move quickly to keep pace with the division’s spring enrollment schedule. Children must turn 5 by Sept. 30, 2026, to enroll, and the in-person screening was set for April 9 at each child’s home elementary school.

That meant families were directed back to their assigned campuses, not a central county site. Screening was scheduled at Byrd Elementary School, Goochland Elementary School and Randolph Elementary School, a school-by-school process that lets staff begin evaluating incoming students where they will actually attend classes. Byrd Elementary School also posted a scheduling contact number, 804-556-5380, for families handling the screening process.

The deadline pressure did not stop with kindergarten registration. Goochland County Public Schools said families registering an elementary student who needed to attend a school other than the one assigned had to complete an out-of-zone request form by April 10, 2026. The division also said a supplemental form was available for families in which full-time work created a supervision issue inside the attendance zone.

Those steps feed directly into the school system’s fall planning. Early kindergarten enrollment gives Goochland County Public Schools time to forecast classroom needs, staffing, transportation routes and the materials that have to be in place before the first day of school. The division’s 2026-27 calendar had already been approved at the March 10, 2026, Goochland County School Board meeting, putting kindergarten registration inside a broader spring planning cycle.

The pattern is not new. Goochland County Public Schools used a similar model in 2024, when it required mandatory in-person screening at each rising kindergartner’s school, and it followed the same school-based approach in 2022. For Goochland parents, the message was clear: register now, show up at the home school for screening, and do not miss the placement deadlines that shape next year’s start.