St. Michael Catholic School will make it official this week, announcing it will expand to offer a preschool and pre-K curriculum to children ages 3 to 5 in the fall of 2012.

The school will have representatives at today’s Preschool Fair, hosted by the St. Michael-Albertville MOMS Club at Albertville City Hall.

It’s a plan that has been in the works, with committees and parish leaders meeting over the past few years. However, the push for a middle level at the Catholic school recently–adding seventh and eighth grade, moved to the forefront for a launch this school year.

“It’s been a very full process,” said Kari Dwinnell, a St. Michael Catholic School mother who was a member of the committee on preschool development. Dwinnell is also a St. Michael Catholic School alumnus. “It’s been several years in the making.”

St. Michael Catholic School Principal Jennifer Haller said it was time to turn the attention to the younger student, after focusing on the older kids much of last year.

“This is what we need to do to expand our Catholic curriculum to families–both in our school already, in our Parish and in our community,” Haller said.

For now, the preschool and Pre-K program would use the classroom space in the current St. Michael Catholic Church. However, the parish is looking for space for the program in the meantime.

“Either way we do it, I’m very confident it will fill up quickly,” Dwinnell said. “The space will drive our numbers, and that’s something we will work to solidify in the next couple of months. But the reaction we’ve received, both from parents I know already at the school and from parents who don’t even have school-age kids yet, is very positive. They’re excited. I have one mother who is bugging me on when she can sign up. So that’s a good sign.”

The Catholic school, Haller said, is fortunate to be in a position to expand its population once again.

“We are very blessed in that sense,” she said. “And that we have a cooperative school district to work with as well in St. Michael-Albertville.”

What will make the school special, or unique, is the faith aspect offered by a Catholic curriculum. That can start at the preschool level, Dwinnell said.

“It really fits our mission, vision and values,” she said, “to bring a faith-based education to our kids. That’s what it’s all about.”

Registration for the Catholic preschool will begin in February, but information will be available beginning tonight.

For those who have already signed up with a preschool for Fall 2012, Haller said she will work to waive and registration fees.

“We don’t want families to double-up, or limit people who have made a choice, but might want our option. So that’s something we’ve decided to work out with people as they come in,” Haller said.

For more in the preschool and Pre-K program, visit the Catholic school’s website.