The Gardner School

Excellent from the headmaster down to aides. My child is in second grade. He is very precocious and they keep him interested. Remarkable.
--Submitted by a parent

My 3 year old daughter loved her preschool experience at the gardner school with teacher Clair! I couldn't talk her in to skipping to go to chucky cheese. My child learned so much about science, and became so much more confident in her physical ability. top notch school. Id say it's the princeton of preschools!! If you wan't to raise happy Doctors and Lawyers you got to start early:) Love the garden and wetlands the sighn language, excellent spanish teachers, teriffic music teacher and music room, excellent P.E teacher, inspiring classrooms. and Clair is spetacular A++++
--Submitted by a parent

I have three children here ages 3, 6, and 8. This is the most amazing school I've ever seen. They teach the children 'how to learn' and there is very little regurgitaion. Children are confident and love to go each day. The teachers are beyond excellent, love the children and their jobs and actively communitcate with parents. The only shortfall is that the cost is prohibitive. If you can swing it, though, it's well worth the investment.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter attends preschool here and loves the teacher, claire. In the beginning of the school year, my daughter could not spell her name or identify most letter of the alphabet. Through claire's patient teachings, my daughter can spell her own name, identify all the letters of the alphabet and correctly name the sound the each letter makes. Claire also has a very unique method of teaching mathematics, sustainability and a general love of outdoors that gets my daughter excited about all of the subjects. If the teaching staff isn't enough, the beautiful setting of the school is enough. Wetlands, views of mt. St. Helens, a vegetable garden, truly a great location. I would highly recommend this preschool to parents who are seeking a teacher who will help children to learn the basic fundamentals of math and english, as well as a love for their environment.
--Submitted by a parent

I've been a Gardner School parent, 'graduate parent', helper and visitor for almost ten years. Every child who attends has the best time of their life there. It is like no other school. Everyone working there loves what they do, the school, the children and the mission. For parents, it's a different story. I've known no fewer than five heads of school. Financial storms come and go. And the tuition limits attendance to those who can afford it. The school is truly magical. The festivals, music nights and plays they produce are fantastic and everyone is deeply committed and involved. My child recounts time and again experiences and friends that will last lifelong.

My daughter graduated from The Gardner School after attending for 5 years. The Gardner School did a great job in transitioning my daughter to a confident successful student and person. She is now a very well adjusted successful public school high school student. The multiple intelligences teaching methodology, thematic integrated curriculum, and experiential learning was key for my daughter s transformation and ongoing success. The small school environment where everyone knows each other gave a wonderful sense of belonging and support when needed. The staff is extremely engaged and talented and knows how to guide the students to ask the hard questions. This was evident in my daughter s civil war project where she just wanted to study fashion. She discovered the complex economics around the textile industry with the factories in the north and the cotton in the south, a very impressive deep dive into that era and a great project.
--Submitted by a parent

We chose the Gardner School for our twins based on the rich integrated curriculum and multiple intelligences teaching methodology. They are now in first grade. We are so proud when they tell to us about the water cycle as we watch the rain pouring down, authors they have read when we are at Barnes & Noble, the latest art style or music they are working on, or when we hear them play adding numbers while sitting in the car. They spend healthy time outdoors actively learning, studying, and playing the games we played as kids. They think they are having fun but they are constantly learning. They have taught us about seeds, butterflies, and how to check a fertile chicken egg to see if the chicken is growing. We consider The Gardner School the best gift we can bestow upon our children.
--Submitted by a parent

This school embodies everything possible in a quality education -- individualized, rigorous, experiential, relevant, with master teachers whose caring and exceptional talent nurture my son's emotional, intellectal, social, and physical growth. I've seen a lot of schools and this is truly exceptional.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter is currently in fourth grade at The Gardner School. She loves it at Gardner and is learning in a way that is fun, creative and rigorous. For example, as a part of her class study on the local watershed in Earth Science, yesterday her class got a batch of salmon which they will study and later release into a local stream. Gardner is a wonderful place to learn. My husband and I feel we are getting a wonderful independent school education for our daughter. We live in Portland and drive to Vancouver, because The Gardner School is unique.
--Submitted by a parent

My 3 1/2 year old son loves this school! He is excited to go and always comes home with a ton of stories about his teachers, friends and the fun things they read and learn throughout the day. The parents are all involved and everyone is promoting education and MIT (multi-intelligence theory).
--Submitted by a parent