We looked all over Thurston and Pierce Counties for the right private school and let me just start…read moreby saying, we made the right choice. It first started for us looking for a pre-K during Covid as a need, but instead it turned into gaining a whole community of friends that we adore. Since we are not the most religious in terms of being Christian or Catholic, some of the private schools in the area had too much focus on religion. Others pre-K schools felt as though we would have just been hiring a babysitter. Waldorf was a breath of fresh air, literally. The kids actually spend time outside in nature! Being kids, getting muddy, pretend play and learning about the wonders of our world. They focus on the whole child, not just academics and there are no grades, no tests, no homework and instead teach a love of learning. Not only that, they throw some really rad festivals and events for the kids - magical even! We are so blessed to have found a fun and safe place to call school.

I never thought I'd find myself writing a warning like this, but after what my daughter went…read morethrough, I feel compelled to speak up. They are not welcoming. We enrolled her in Olympia Waldorf trusting the promises of a nurturing environment, holistic education, community, and balance. What we actually experienced was chaos, lack of accountability, broken promises, and a lot of emotional strain. This school is nothing like what is advertised. Please do your research there are even documentaries that shed light on the reality. Sending my daughter here is one of my biggest regrets as a parent. If you want your child to be ostracized, send them here. Out of respect for my child I choose not to put specific details here. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Great experience with their PreK, teachers are very friendly and helpful. This school seems like it…read morecould use more funding and resources for classrooms, but overall my son had a wonderful experience here.

Their school currently does not have a counselor for the students…read more Their principles only been a principle for the last 2 years she's very incompetent and struggles at doing the bear minimum. The whole staff is European they do not have staff members or teachers that represent any of the students of color. Students have been in numerous fights they tend to get a harsher punishment as they are students of color versus their European peers. There is systemic institutional racism in this school and lots of bias and it shows. I literally had to tell the principle why we don't use the word slave anymore because it takes away someone's identity and dehumanitizes them that we use the bird enslavement. And she was so ignorant that she was like wow I didn't know. As in her correculum they still call people slaves. They don't even teach African history they just About learning about Plantation life. Which doesn't give the students of color a very good start. Taught African American history these students could be proud that they came from advanced civilizations that had irrigation systems way before Europe. But you wouldn't want to teach that because you only like teaching European ideology and accomplishments.

We enrolled at Concordia Christian Academy seeking a Christ-centered environment where our children…read morewould be spiritually formed, emotionally supported, and physically safe. What we experienced instead was a pattern of dismissiveness, racial insensitivity, and unequal treatment that ultimately forced us to withdraw. From minimizing legitimate safety concerns, to racially harmful classroom experiences, to public humiliation of our child in front of the school, to incidents of racism in kindergarten that we were never informed about, we repeatedly watched the burden of accountability get placed on families instead of leadership. We also experienced clear boundary violations, including our child being posted publicly after we explicitly did not consent. When we raised concerns, the response escalated into what felt like surveillance and retaliatory treatment during our withdrawal process, creating an atmosphere that was tense, punitive, and heartbreaking for our children. No family should have to fight this hard to be heard, and no child should be made to feel monitored, mistrusted, or unsafe at school. I'm sharing this because families deserve transparency, and because schools that claim Christian values must demonstrate justice, dignity, and care in practice, not just in mission statements.

Update: Since I'm being told I'm making things up, this was…read morefrom the late 90s to early 2000s. Early on, there was a great principal (mr Hayes?) But that changed. I'm not sure if you recall the reason why Mr. B* (censored for privacy, but if you know, you know) was asked to leave as a teacher, but I'll leave those details to you. There's the time Mrs. S* told the girls that we needed to wear makeup because otherwise we wouldn't be pretty enough for anyone to become Christians, or the time that she told a boy that if he needed to pee, he could just hold it by tying a rubber band to his genitals, or something along those lines. I heard that the high school had to change its name after the principal embezzled, or something like that? Whatever the case, the entire school system was absolutely wild and I know multiple people from the school have a bunch of stories of this place as well.

It's ok but the bathrooms have mold and no one cleans up the common places for the price you pay…read moreit's nasty, food is left to rot in the kitchen and there are a lot of required classes that don't really relate to certain majors

Juan the chef is amazing when I come to the Cafe juan has the best costumer service and is a joy,read more

Best daycare ever! I've sent two kids here now and would recommend 100%. We have been attending for…read morealmost 10 years! Education forward and you can't beat the bonus of the valley activities! Clean, friendly and caring staff.

Lynette is very unethical. She makes decisions based on hear say and slanderous comments. I was…read moretold I cannot volunteer a week and a half after she was excited and approached me this year about volunteering with my step daughter's class. She allowed another parent at the school to reverse her decision based on nothing but false hearsay and discrimination. I was told that our family was the only family where the step parent cannot volunteer. I was also told by Lynette she can "do what she wants because it's a private school". Both myself and my husband are very disappointed. I will never recommend this school. Being a local business owner myself I would never compromise my ethics simply to appease another client.

Awesome school. Academics are well rounded, the sports are competitive, and the students, faculty,…read moreand staff are wonderful. I love Bellarmine

I went to high school here. Class of 2007. While I assume a lot has changed since I went there and…read morethis review may not be 100% relevant to today, I do feel it set me up with a decently good education and I ended up with a great career so that probably says something. I was a 3.6 GPA student here that found some classes easy and some hard. The block schedule with long classes and A and B days did help set me up for college well. The religious aspect was a big part of school but also not overbearing in my opinion. As someone who is mildly religious, I feel I was well educated on religion without having it completely pushed down my throat. The religious retreats were enjoyable regardless of an individual's beliefs. The campus grounds are pretty, and have improved immensely since I went there. The new student center is beautiful and they no longer have the ugly portables I had to go to class in. I do feel they played favorites and I was not one of those favorites, and that determines a lot about kids futures and college applications. For example, the musical cast was ALWAYS the same people. Mr. Wilkinson (musical and play) was the biggest culprit of favoritism. I know I wasn't the best singer in the world but I also was decently good and he really killed my confidence in something I had been passionate about up until high school. He never even gave feedback to anyone to improve. He could have switched up the choruses in his musicals instead of THE SAME PEOPLE EVERY SEASON. The journalism staff was also predictable based on staff family members and their friends. From what I heard about the sports teams, it was usually the same. Basically any extracurricular was made by politics and not always by hard work or talent. Some staff that deserve shout outs: Mr. Ellis is a great coach, teacher, and positive ray of energy. Mr. Stokely is no longer there but always did a wonderful job of making every single student feel heard and included. I was terrible at math, but Mr. Stokely never made me feel bad about it. Ms. Hanigan was a wonderful, positive, and supportive teacher. And Father Jerry was a terrific counselor that always helped guide me in the right direction whether academic or personal. Also, the dress code here got a little insane when I went here so I hope they've relaxed and stopped policing women's bodies so much. (No one should be appalled by the clavicle and it's terrible to teach women that their body is inherently sexual). I'd probably send my kid here. I imagine some of my complaints here (politics) would be similar elsewhere and I do feel I got a good education. Hopefully things have changed on my concerns since I went there and if not hopefully this brings valuable feedback to light.

Do not bring your debit card, credit card, cash app, Apple Pay or any digital currency to be able…read moreto pay for anything here. Make sure you bring your checkbook (young people look it up), get a cashier's check or a money order from the Timberline bank one block down the street. Really friendly folks but there is a homeless problem here. Don't go up to the building thinking the door is gonna open. Ring the doorbell and wait. They will come. Important: this is also called Old Capitol Building or OSPI. Make sure you put a SE on this address or you will be at the farmer's market.

I work in education. I have had many opportunities and needs to interact and get information from…read moredifferent offices and persons in this statewide governing association. Mostly, I get info which I need. It is, however, a very large machine and there are times one can get passed around or incorrectly transferred. When I needed to know about my teacher certification I got the answers. When I need to look up a school or a district for information, it's all here. I truly do not agree with the computerized 'secret' testing, but it is a battle of someone else now. I have played my part in state testing.