Beautiful new building. Wonderful staff. What a great opportunity for our young people.read more

Beautiful auditorium. Our family is in Washington for my…read moresister's girlfriend's graduation, and I honestly expected to be under the sun (or rain, for that matter--because DUH, Seattle lol), but the graduation is being held at a beautiful fully air-conditioned auditorium with pretty comfortable seats. A lot more convenient and comfortable than I though, to be honest. Always awesome to be perfectly comfy

When my wife and I moved out of our last neighborhood, we were just starting the process of…read morebecoming foster to adopt parents of older kids. School quality was not our first thought when we chose our home, we just wanted a safer neighborhood. We loved Bible Park, I had lived in the area previously, we knew it was a perfect fit for us. It was the perfect place for us until we were placed with a 3rd and 6th grader in September of 2013. And it wasn't the place that was the problem, it was the schools. tWe immediately toured our local elementary school and middle school. When we toured the elementary school, there was a real fear that our son would be quickly grouped with other kids in the area who have lacked regular schooling, maybe had no parental involvement at home, and who were among the 25% of kids that changed schools every year. And if our youngest was assumed to be part of this group of kids, would the teachers invest the time and energy into him that we knew he would need? We then found an opening at a different magnet school in the area. We were excited about the possibility of our 3rd grader and 6th grader going to the same school while they endured such dramatic changes in their lives. And this school was amazing for our third grader. They specialized in English as a second language students who had large gaps in their education. And our third grader was taken under the wing of some good hearted teacher and he made some huge advances. But our 6th grader floundered. See our oldest is highly intelligent. But he had 11 years of using his intelligence just having to do just enough to exceed the average of his peers. And his peers were mostly struggling with poverty. His peers had not had expectations to succeed in school. And when he started at this school it became quickly evident that his peers had not changed much from his previous 6 years of education. What you may not understand about the dynamic of being a foster to adopt parent is that our kids absolutely do not trust that our expectations and rules for them are ever associated with our love, care, or best wishes for them. They are just another thing that is different and wrong about the life they are now forced to live. So if their friends don't have rules, if their friends don't have to get high grades, if their friends don't have to do their homework, it reinforces their already held belief that their new parents are unfair, and don't get what they are going through. And our version of love is a language that they have no interest in learning. When we tried to be proactive regarding the education of our 6th grader, requesting regular status updates, we were assured that it would happen. But routinely we were surprised with disappointing grades, and the progress in our oldest's education seemed stalled throughout 7th grade as well. We could not trust him to be supervised if he hung out with friends. When requesting effort from our oldest, we were legitimately confronted with the fact that most of his peers were not expected to put effort into their education at school or at home. Our youngest had made good progress in this school in 3rd and 4th grade but we were scared he would face the same middle school future at this school. We knew it would be hard for a seventh grader to switch schools but we were determined to salvage his last year before high school. We did not expect that we would get into Highline. It was a long shot, and we were thrilled when we got in. The differences in this school were much more than we even expected. It starts with the front desk. Every other school we had encountered, the front dest was like the DMV. But the front desk at Highline was eager to facilitate any needs. The 5th grade team with Ms. Chandlier has taken our 5th grader under their wing as I see them doing with a number of kids. His academic progress is astounding. He was doing sight words and muddling his way through the occasional Dr. Seus book midway through 3rd grade, not registering on any reading ability scales. This year Ms. Chandlier and him set the high goal of reading Harry Potter books by the end of the year. This is a goal that has already been reached. And for all of our youngest's success I am just as grateful for what Highline has given our 8th grader. After 8 years of just getting by, after 8 years of just staying off the radar, our oldest has made tremendous progress in doing more than just using his high intelligence to be lazy. He has become an active partner in his education. He has made choices to try to be a successful student thanks to the partnership we have with his teachers. And his chances of high school success are much more than I could have hoped for when he entered Highline Academy. I am so jealous of all of these kids who have had this amazing experience for 9 years. All of this success does not just happen. It is a result of a team and community that that are all working towards the same goal.

EHS is the best school I got a good memory here after graduation i reaching my little goal in my…read morejob get good experience hope everyone try their best in EHS make your dream come true .

This school has not meet my educational expectations and lacks knowledge of how to educate students…read moreand is filled with vilonce and neglegent students that have no motavation to learn. I do not recommend going into this sort of school if you want to make over 80 thousand a year wich is over the normal range of yearly income for a mid class family

I have 3 daughters enrolled at this school and we couldn't be happier! Warm and caring staff,…read moregreat organization and fun learning environments for all 3. We've never been more excited about school!

I have nothing but great things to say about this school where my children attended…read morekindergarten-8th grade. I was able to observe the foundation of inquiry, compassion and community the k-5th grade experience provided for the further growth opportunities presented in middle school. These kids are smart, grounded, actively participate in their own learning and are 100% ready for high school academically and socially. Don't let the small middle school fool you! Students thrive socially in school and out. Furthermore, WSMS offers field trips, experiences and out of state travel for all, (not just a select few that have means) teachers and staff that care about all students and their educational path (not just those with parents that are able to volunteer) and a strong educational, service and community foundation that carries into adulthood. I want to be a Montessori kid

I just checked their website - thank God most staff are gone. The previous principal, Eve, was a…read moredonkey. She had no idea how to do her job. There were a few teachers who were GREAT, but are no longer there. All in all, let me put it this way: just because it's a private school does NOT mean it's good. When my kiddo went to public school, she was much much happier and really grew as a person.

My wife and I are not Catholic, but we tried two other much more expensive private schools before…read morediscovering how wonderful St Bernadette is. When we began to bring our boys there two years ago, our family was one of several who had moved from another nearby Catholic school. Contrary to the other one, the teachers at St Bernadette are surprisingly motivated and serious about teaching; and students are there to learn. Teachers are constantly interacting with parents, and parents are involved. Students pick up on this attitude, so the atmosphere is calm and focused on instruction, rather than behavioral correction. One can feel this when entering the building. In the other two nearby private schools, (one of them also Catholic), the battle to correct disruptive students was hopeless. In other schools, teachers admitted to deleting large portions of the syllabus in order to make up for time wasted on kids shouting out in the classroom. At St Bernadette, classrooms are calm, and students are divided into smaller groups based on learning speed. One of our boys even receives advanced level work packets prepared specially for him by the mathematics teacher. Unlike other private schools, we're not constantly hounded to keep contributing money. Every few months there are terrific ethnic banquets prepared by parents to foster a loving spirit of community.