At PSCS, our first focus is on creating a safe, compassionate environment for students, staff, & our families.

Core Commitments

Practice Integrity. Engage the Community. Act with Courage.

Vision Statement

Puget Sound Community School in 2025 cultivates belonging, engagement, and learning grounded in diversity, empowerment, and empathy.

educational philosophy

Puget Sound Community School (PSCS) is an independent middle and high school, located in the heart of the Chinatown—International District in Downtown, Seattle, WA.

PSCS staff serves students and families invested in kindness- and community-centered education, responsive co-created curriculum, social and global responsibility, and collaborative leadership. We believe that people are intrinsically compelled by our innate curiosity and desire to learn; when provided choice, positive support, scrutable accountability, and a responsive curriculum—taught by engaged, multi-skilled teachers—we will all enthusiastically pursue meaningful goals and purpose. As far as this is true for adults, we see how these shared instincts also cultivate conscientious, community-minded, and self-motivated young people.

The approaches used at PSCS foster creativity, flexibility, and compassion, while encouraging students and staff to focus deeper on those activities and classes that bring them joy and purpose. To do this, PSCS offers one-on-one Advising relationships and curricula built around student interest, growth, and need. Additional community expectations are designed to scaffold growth in understanding social and restorative justice, and personal, contextual, and responsible identity.

In May of 2021, in an effort to build upon the collaborative and equitable vision of the school, PSCS parents, staff, and the Board of Trustees agreed to invest in non-hierarchical administration and collaborative leadership, rather than in a traditional Head of School. This decision resulted in the formation of an Administrative Team that functions in close cooperation with the Teaching Staff.

Students who fully embrace the program offered at PSCS show consistent progress in self-expression, leadership, and skill-building in almost any endeavor, and start to recognize they are part of something bigger than themselves. We ask students to dedicate themselves to the school’s three Core Commitments (above).

Statement of Non-Discrimination

Puget Sound Community School invites the participation of all people, welcoming students, teachers, families, and volunteers of any racial, national, religious, or ethnic origin, from all backgrounds, belief systems, orientations, and expressions.

Private School Approval

PSCS is an Approved Private School under the provisions of Chapter 180-90, Washington Administrative Code, as authorized by RCW 28A.02.240. PSCS is also a subscriber school of the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), and a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Washington Federation of Independent Schools (WFIS).