Pioneer Elementary School

We are lucky to be able to attend a school small enough that it feels like a community, many families walk to school and stay after to chat on the playground after school. My kids know all staff and have interacted with every student. The teachers are all veterans and understand the needs of this small neighborhood school. Olympia has lottery schools but it’s just a guise for those who think their kids are special and unique and it has us all convinced the grass is greener on the other side- it’s not because by first grade they leave those programs and come to Madison, their neighborhood school and use up all of the schools small groups and intervention to get them to grade level. Through our 8 years we have had 13 teachers (10 still there!) and only two that were not amazing but still adequate. The school is not perfect but it’s a family and still small enough that when you have a problem it’s easy to get to the bottom of it.

Great school. Great diversity. Love that my child gets to experience lots of different cultures and we can talk about them all at home. Counselors and Principal have been very supportive of actually helping the kids deal with emotions rather than dictate their behavior.

After searching every private school in Thurston, Pierce and Mason county, we settled on Sunrise Beach. We insisted on visiting every reputable school in the area, but Sunrise Beach was far ahead of others in so many ways. 1. First, the education level/ experience of the faculty. The school has done an exemplary job of recruiting, exceptional faculty, who both have a warm, caring attitude, but also are credentialed, experienced, and engaging.2. Secondly, the curriculum and college prep components - wow. Science, arts, culture, international components, drama and music, and foreign language, all starting in pre-K and going up to 12th grade. Above and beyond. 3. The individual attention they give to each student. From week one, they were noting the interests and personality of our student, in a way that other teachers had never made before, such as comments related to their special talents and gifts, as well as areas for growth - right away. We were extremely excited to see this4. The safety and security of the campus. Sunrise Beach take safety and security extremely seriously. Single point of entry, locked doors, security drills. Some of these things local public schools are not even doing. We are confident in our choice. Our student is so happy as well, and we know the staff are there to support the students at all costs.

This school focuses on core education values. They focus on love of God, Family and Country. The school and staff set high standards for academic work and behavior. If you are tired of the non-academic agenda of our public schools this might be a good option for you. We are not a religious family but the exposure to religion is very appropriate. It is a Catholic school but they are not trying to convert my child. I am so happy to have found this school. I just wish I would have made the change sooner.

My daughter has been attending ORLA for her sophomore year. She feels the environment is fun, engaged, positive and honoring of various learning styles and needs. While we wish it were more ethnically and culturally diverse, we do appreciate the neurodiversity, gender diversity (not just girl/boy), and socioeconomic diversity. This is an interesting blend of alternative school, home school and traditional public school. I love the mission, really addresses a need in the community where kids might otherwise “fall through the cracks”. The class offerings are a good mix of core classes and fun electives like yearbook/media production, pottery, and theater. We have seen our daughter thriving academically and the monthly progress accountability checks seem to help. She is a self-motivated learner and I do wonder how kids who are not self-starters are able to keep up with assignments as it does seem like there may be some wasted instructional time while the class “goofs off” (social time?) and there ends up being a lot of homework time needed at home as a result. But that might not be the case for all kids - mine tends to get caught up in having fun with friends. To be honest, this is tipping the scales for my kiddo in a direction she needed after missing out socially during the pandemic and following years. Overall we are quite happy with our experience here and wish we could have enrolled her earlier and lived closer so we could be more involved in the school community.