New Horizon School

An amazing facility for students to learn in the levels and areas that they learn best. Very happy with their services and programming. Highly recommend for anyone who has a son or daughter who learns differently.

New Horizon School (NHS) has been a very positive change for my 6th grade grandson. We can't believe the difference in how he feels about going to school -- now he is singing every morning and enjoying learning! After just a couple months he even decided to stay for an after school club one day a week and he's making friends. This school is designed for kids on the Autism spectrum, or have ADHD, and/ or learning differences. For kids with learning disabilities, this school provides individualized education, small groups, and the students soon discover how physically & emotionally safe the whole school environment is. I can't say enough about how great the teachers and the office staff are with all the students at NHS. I highly recommend this wonderful school.

I am so happy that we found this school. Our son isn't enrolled yet, but we hope he will be soon. He's elementary age, struggles with academics, and has sensory processing and other special needs due to his disability. We enjoyed our tour of New Horizon School and our son was so happy during his visit. Their program is fantastic, and we know he will get the right kind of instruction so that he can learn. The classrooms are small and he liked being with other children with similar special needs. They assessed his academic and social needs while he was there, and really understood him. We have asked our school district to contract with New Horizon to place our son there for his special education services, and we hope that will happen soon. It can't happen soon enough for us!

In her previous schools, my daughter never felt a part of the group. She always stood alone, afraid to join in, and never invited. At New Horizon School, other students welcomed and invited her to join in. For the first few weeks, she kept "expecting" to be bullied as she had been in other schools. Slowly she learned that no one would bully her, because "that's just not the way we do things" (another student's words to her). I love that as a parent I can come in through the main office anytime, and everyone knows my name, my family, and my daughter. I don't have to try to hurry out of the office, because everyone at the school knows exactly what our family is going through. "It's what we do here" - (Office staff member's words to me). We were always afraid that with her low social skills, she would continue to be victimized as she had been in other schools. We used to dread the future, wondering how all of the past traumatic events in previous schools would affect her; but now I look forward to watching her gain autonomy, have the confidence to volunteer in the community, and see herself as someone who matters in the world.

We raise our grandson, who was in Seattle Public Schools through the 6th grade with some issues, most manageable. He had a hard time keeping up with the speed of the curriculum in some classes, even though it was an "inclusion program" with an extra teacher in the classrooms of core academic subjects. That all changed in the 7th grade, when the bullying was so frequent and intense that he began retaliating and expressing suicidal thoughts. We talked with all our resources and easily narrowed the choices to Morningside Academy and New Horizon and observed at both. It was clear that with his combination of learning issues, he would be better-served at New Horizon, and history has proven that to be true. These teachers really "get" him. He trusts them and feels challenged, supported and accepted. The curriculum is individualized for each student, so they mix at some point with nearly all the students in the middle and high school. He joined an after-school club and this year the archery team. We couldn't be happier, and neither could he. The communication with parents is excellent and involvement is encouraged. However, all kids learn that ultimately they are each responsible for their own learning.

New Horizon School is a great school with wonderful teachers. My son has Autism, and he has a hard time learning math and also socializing properly. The small classes have really helped, and having teachers who "get him" has really benefited him. When he gets stressed or overwhelmed, he has been taught to ask for help or take a break if he needs to. He is able to step outside, go for a short walk, talk to a teacher, or bounce on a therapy ball for a few minutes, and then he's ready to go back into class. The teachers are helping him learn how to identify a problem and solve it. Before coming to New Horizon School, he tried to memorize his math facts, but he couldn't. There, his math teacher has taught him his math facts, and now he knows how to multiply and divide. Best of all, he's making friends and going to social activities that the school provides: fall festival, game night, snow tubing. Everything is accommodated to meet his special needs.

I have nothing but positive things to say about New Horizon. When we first brought our son there to school, he was frustrated, anxious, and ready to give up. He was at risk for dropping out of school. He didn't feel accepted for who he is, with his learning challenges. By the end of his visit week, he felt like this was a school that could help him learn. Over the years, he got personalized attention from caring and concerned teachers, made new friends with similar learning challenges, and was able to participate in things that he had never been able to participate in before. He went mountain biking, white river rafting, and snowshoeing, all things that we never would have believed he would be willing to try. He earned his high school diploma, not a certificate of individual achievement, but a diploma. I don't think he would have had an opportunity to achieve this without his teachers at New Horizon. There, he felt accepted by everyone. In fact, he still feels accepted by everyone, and visits often. He has enjoyed success in college and he's ready now to embark on his own path of a career and being more independent, but this wouldn't have been the case without New Horizon.

My son was diagnosed with ADD and is developmentally delayed so he has struggled academically since preschool and as a result is behind his peers socially and academically. He has always had a difficult time making friends and was bullied constantly because he is social awkwardness. His self-esteem and confidence was in the gutter and he felt lonely and isolated. He was misunderstood by his teacher who thought he was just lazy and unmotivated to them he just needed to work harder. It became increasingly more difficult to send him to school every day knowing the environment he was in and knowing it was doing him more harm than good.
That all changed when I found New Horizon School. When I visited I immediately felt welcome Marla the administrator was very warm and incredibly knowledgeable and never made me feel judged or blamed for my sons struggles. The teachers I met on my student guided tour answered all my questions and were clearly high quality caring professionals. I had my son registered as soon as I could and when I got the call from Marla telling me he had been accepted I was overjoyed. The difference I have seen in my son has been incredible. He is happier more confident and is much more optimistic about his future and is even talking about college. I wish I had found New Horizon school years ago but I am so glad that I did and I would recommend it to anyone who has a child that is struggling to succeed in school.