Seattle Academy

Seattle Academy was founded in 1983 by a courageous group of trustees, faculty, and parents who were inspired to start a new school designed to provide a unique academic program to prepare students for college and life. In that initial year, 72 students joined the Seattle Academy founders in laying the foundation and taking the first steps towards the dynamic and impactful SAAS community that we have today.

Seattle Academy (also referred to as SAAS) is a vibrant, innovative and energetic independent school serving 6th through 12th grade students in an urban Capitol Hill campus setting in Seattle, WA. SAAS is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS) and is approved by the Office of Superintendent Public Instruction to operate as a private school in the state of Washington

Our dynamic educational philosophy of teaching students “how to think” but not “what to think” is delivered through programmatic pillars of Academics, Arts, Athletics, Outdoor & Travel, and Service. Students represent a variety of educational experiences (public/private/home-schooled), as well as diverse ethnic, socio-economic, gender, and cultural backgrounds.

Our students have varying interests, capabilities, and learning styles, which are supported by our faculty, advisors, grade coordinators, counselors, and our Learning Support teams. Our Seattle Academy principle to Know the Kid focuses our efforts on understanding a student at the individual level and navigating with them through their SAAS experience.

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS) is an independent secondary school with a mission to prepare students to participate effectively in a modern society. We seek a diversified student body and faculty and offer a demanding college-preparatory curriculum integrating the arts and emphasizing a global perspective.

We utilize the resources of our urban environment to extend our classrooms, to enhance our programs, and to engage our students in public service. Most of all, we seek to graduate motivated students with talent and integrity who are prepared to contribute productively to a changing world.

The most important factor in the success of Seattle Academy is the existence of supportive relationships between and among students and teachers and among faculty, administrators, and parents. These supportive relationships are the direct result of social interactions that are governed and guided by the SAAS core values. It is our aspiration that the Seattle Academy community shares these core values and demonstrates them in all communications and action.

At Seattle Academy, our cultural conversation, curriculum, teaching styles, and programs are grounded in the guiding principles of Culture of Performance, Diverse & Inclusive Community, Know the Kid, Participation & Excellence, and Talents Born, Made & Discovered. A student, as an individual, is encouraged and enabled to explore new things and build upon their existing experiences in a collaborative, supportive learning environment.

Seattle Academy literally sits at a major intersection in one of Seattle’s most vibrant neighborhoods, in a diverse and dynamic city. We are also at moment in time of major social, political, economic and cultural intersections. So we are well placed in our mission to be a catalyst for our students to reach their full potential, and to in turn help their communities reach their potential.

Our mission leads us to focus daily on the question, “What does this generation need from us today to be ready for tomorrow?” The answers we find to those questions are rooted in our core beliefs about teaching and learning, about what it means to be in community, and about the innate potential in all of our students, not just some of them. And for all the members of our community – past, present and future - it’s a fundamental and fair expectation that we know and can articulate what we care about, what we value, and why we’re optimistic about the future. So here goes!

• We believe that our students have the capacity to become creative, collaborative problem solvers who navigate ambiguity with agility and confidence.
• We believe that our community must be honest about the tough, complex issues that come up in the lives of our students, in our own lives as parents and educators, and in our world.
• We believe that we should value equity, inclusion and community for reasons that are based as much in practical necessity and wisdom as they are ethical and ideological convictions.
• We believe that it’s both practical and imperative that we recognize and value all of the different combinations of Gifts and Talents that this rising generation can and should bring to the world.

At Seattle Academy, we strive to recognize and amplify the diverse gifts and talents of our students, and to give them the opportunity to develop their innate talents, to build new talents and to discover new talents they never thought they had.

Hopefully, we - as past, present and future members of the SAAS community - will together empower a generation of leaders who are willing to dare, who aren’t paralyzed by a fear of failure or limited by narrow definitions of success, and who can surprise us and themselves in all of the best ways.

Upper School
Address: 1201 E. Union, WA
Postal Code: 98122
Phone: +1 206 3236600