Hillside Student Community School

I have 2 daughters who attended Hillside for several years before they had to leave due to our moving out of the area. Hillside was a fabulous experience for them, and they were sad to leave the school. Both girls got an excellent education there with tons of individual attention. Some of the classes were practically like having a personal tutor. The teachers care about each student and are responsive to each student's individual needs, strengths and weaknesses. They spend a lot of time on each student. For example, the high school humanities teacher spends hours going over all writing assignments from his students with copious comments and revisions and really teaches them how to write. Best of all, Hillside nurtures each student's individual gifts. They place great importance on everyone in the community treating each other with kindness, respect and appreciation for who each person is, and there is no expectation like in many public schools to conform. Everyone is accepted for who they are. As far as how students treat each other, bullying is absent, as is exclusive behavior. All that plus rigorous, high quality academic instruction. Students form close relationships with each other because the student body is small. While this smallness would not be for every student, many thrive with it, as did my girls. My husband and I heartily recommend Hillside.

As a former student and graduate, I remember Hillside with immense fondness and credit its pedagogies and community-oriented focus with much of who I am today. I got into Oberlin College, where I was the head of the student government and graduated with honors, and am now a successful artist and school organizer, soon on the way to a graduate program in Europe. Thank You!

P.S. (What that other alum has to say about paper-writing is right on. Knowing how to write was a Huge Advantage you can't get most places.)

I'm a Hillside Alumni. I was there from 4th grade (they no longer have 4th grade) to graduation. As a 3rd grader coming from a terrible public school experience, Hillside was exactly what I needed. The teachers and staff genuinely care about the students. I felt safe and looked out for by not only the staff and teachers, but students as well. These are the kind of people you want your kids around. I was struggling with school confidence and I was able to get the 1:1 help I needed to help with the school subjects I was lacking in at the time and my personal confidence too. If your child goes into the upper school grade levels, they will learn how to write a quality college paper. I graduated from BC (AA degree) and UW (BA degree) and was amazed how a scary portion of my peers didn't know how to write a quality paper. I helped edit a lot... Other graduates from Hillside (who are still my best friends today) also experienced this at their college. There are at least 3 more qualities I wish I could list that I loved about it but I'm rapidly running out of room. So to sum up, if you're not sure. Win and doubt check it out.

Looking for the next step after Seattle Country Day for our two daughters my wife and I knew what we wanted in a school, but not where to find it. It was important that both go to the same school. One was very strong in math but needed help with her writing. The other was the exact opposite. We were looking for a strong foundation in basic skills, not frills or current educational fads. Although I was initially very skeptical based on the size and appearance of the campus by the end of the first year both my wife and I were completely won over. Hillside has a gifted teaching staff that offers a flexible approach and attention to each individual student, meeting them at their current level. While the small size of the student body does limit some opportunities it also promotes a level of cooperation, respect, individual responsibility and tolerance that won't be found in more conventional schools. If looking for a school today we would make the same choice. Involvement with the running Start program is a plus. The results speak for themselves- the older daughter is a mechanical engineering major at Stanford, the younger a biology/anthropology double major at Bowdoin.