Spruce St. School

Spruce Street is an incredible, gem of a school. Everything positive said here, I completely agree with and more! They do accept more "kids with challenges" than other private schools (meaning they accept a few, maybe one or less per class), but this only serves to add an element of diversity that all kids benefit from, and opportunities to learn and develop social skills for a diverse world community. While my kid isn't considered "challenging," I've only heard positive things from those with challenging kids, and have seen a lot of individual attention and planning directed to those kids. My only complaint would be around dealings with lice: we have gotten it from school more times than friends I know at other schools, and the school doesn't do much in the way of curtailing it--they only rarely even report its existence when notified. A once or twice annual school-wide check, easily and cheaply conducted by a local lice removal company, would do the trick.
—Submitted by a parent

Spruce Street has excellent teachers and leadership. It really does attract a diverse student body, in every sense of the word. My child excelled there. Best thing was the experience based learning that is the total opposite of the test factory we see in ALL public schools. Instead kids are given the space to develop true lifelong learning and pursue things that are truly interesting. My child is now a middle schooler and is doing great. Thank you Spruce Street!
—Submitted by a parent

My child is thriving at Spruce Street. He loves going to school and we love that his intellectual curiosity is sparked by hands on experiments, field trips, performing in plays, and talented, fun teachers. He is challenged and challenges himself in math.
—Submitted by a parent

Spruce Street is a fantastic school! The community is caring and the curriculum is highly individualized. My son is very engaged in learning, really likes his teachers, and is in a classroom filled with great kids. Most importantly, he LOVES going to school. I also appreciate that the parent body is very down to Earth and involved. About a 1/3 of the school s population receives aide. Unlike some other Seattle area independent schools, Spruce Street covers the entire socio economic spectrum. (The middle class is pretty much non-existent at my Seattle area alma mater). We are grateful that our middle class family received some financial aide.
—Submitted by a parent

There were things about my daughter's six years at Spruce Street that I'll always treasure--for instance learning about social justice and developing her social skills--but overall it wasn't worth the money and, more tragically, her time. Academically, the school is very inconsistent. And while it seems to attract kids with challenges, it doesn't seem to be well-equipped to handle them. If a kid is a middle of the road student, acedmically, emotionally and behaviorally, s/he will likely do okay here. But, then, that student would probably do okay anywhere.
—Submitted by a parent

Amazing and ideal! This is one of the best kept secrets in Seattle! I disagree with the previous review about 90% of the time being spent on any type of behavior issue. In fact, it is quite the opposite because everyone at the school stays in tune with all of the children, resulting in very few issues around behavior. Lots of learning, lots of connecting, lots of joy happening there. The school is transparent about what the children are learning!

Watch out! This is a really good school for kids with severe needs for social and emotional development.90% of the teachers time is spent with sever behavior issues in the younger classes. It's really hard to see what is actually going on in the classroom, what your child is really learning.
—Submitted by a parent