"I’ve gone to a school where my voice has been valued, where I've been given the opportunity to make my own choices and compassion has been paramount. A place with teachers who actually care about me and how I'm doing." -PSCS Senior Credo
student experience
Puget Sound Community School offers a responsive learning environment where students develop a strong sense of self, deeply rooted in community. For over 30 years, our independent nonprofit school has brought together a passionate, multidisciplinary staff; engaged students who are trusted in their learning; and a community as dynamic and vibrant as the city of Seattle itself.
The results are young people who go out in the world seeking purpose and connection, ready to contribute.
Each day begins and ends with a full-school check-in, grounding our students and staff in shared presence and care. From there, students move through a daily schedule they’ve helped create—from the courses offered, to the affinity groups formed, to the broader community and mutual aid they engage with in meaningful ways.
At lunchtime, students are welcome to enjoy food from home, prepare simple meals in the PSCS kitchen (maintained collectively), or venture into Seattle’s third Chinatown-International District to support local restaurants and grocers.
Through off-campus hours, independent study, and partnerships with many of Seattle’s leading nonprofit organizations, students gain firsthand experience in the wider world. With the guidance of teachers and volunteers, they learn to place that experience in context—honoring history without erasure, envisioning a future where all of humanity thrives.
curriculum
At Puget Sound Community School, students are encouraged to follow their curiosity across a rich curriculum that includes global and cultural studies, world language, visual and language arts, music, performance, math, science, and movement. As a small school, we purposefully blend classrooms across age groups, creating space for younger students to learn from older peers, and for older students to facilitate and grow as empathetic leaders in thoughtful, nuanced conversation.
Across all disciplines, we foster critical thinking that honors history, examines bias, and questions systems of power—with a focus on care for intentionally silenced communities. The curriculum is shaped in part collaboratively by staff and students, supporting young people not only in discovering who they are as a learner, but in offering their talents and perspectives in meaningful connection with others.
Our philosophy nurtures in our 6th-8th graders a deeper understanding of themselves and their identity in the larger context.
In middle school, Advisors and older students act as coaches and guides in this process, assisting our youngest and newest to identify and pursue their interests while helping them to develop the skills they need to derive the greatest benefit from the community.
Middle school students programming includes Seminars and cross age modeling that scaffolds their high school experience and beyond. They are intentionally supported in practicing academic and executive function skills, building community through fun and play, and engaging in learning that meets them where they are (a student in middle school may engage in higher lever courses that can be added to their high school transcript).
9-12th grade at PSCS is focused on the concepts of community- and self-awareness, self-direction, and goal-setting.
Students are challenged by their Advisors to participate in offerings because students find excitement and/or purpose in them. They choose classes, co-create the schedule, model the core commitments of the school, and start to define leadership for themselves.
Advisors help students to
- identify short- and long-term goals (and map out strategies to achieve them);
- provide support in understanding and prioritizing required Seminars and WA State Graduation Requirements;
- engage in a process of authentic self-reflection that supports them in moving toward their next goals, whether that be higher education, starting their own business, travel, or any number of life pursuits.
First Year Student Seminar
Students starting their first year in the community meet together one a week, usually during the Fall Term. This Seminar offers additional time to ask questions, connect with each other, learn more about PSCS' approach and opportunities, and to explore our shared and differing cultural identities, experiences, and skills.
6th & 7th Grader Seminar
Students starting their first or second year in the community meet together one a week, usually for one term. This Seminar offers additional time to ask questions and create, to practice the skills built in prior Seminars, and start to engage with the Layers of Heritage Framework—created by our community partners at The Rhapsody Project—which staff utilizes as a through line for each developmental stage at PSCS. Our time together is as engaging and connective as you allow yourself to be.
8th & 9th Grade Seminar
Students in 8th and 9th grade spend time together in a weekly Seminar meant to offer further exploration and expansion on identity and community. They work on a smaller in scope individual project, meant to scaffold the Senior Project.
Students entering 8th grade at PSCS are given this opportunity to straddle the culminating growth of middle school and the newer privileges and responsibilities of high school.
9th graders, as new high schoolers, become co-facilitators of the 8th grade process in some ways, practicing and building on skills learned the year prior, while also modeling that practice for the 8th grade cohort. Participating in Seminar and successful completion of an 8th grade Project is required to move into 9th grade, and 9th is required to move on to 10th grade.
10th Grade Seminar
Students in 10th grade will be coached through a deeper study of Layers of Heritage, an exploration of one's position, place, and privilege in the world. Some years 10th grade includes a group project. Students in their Sophomore year of high school will also identify interests, and begin to consider their post-high school path.
Junior Seminar
Students in 11th grade must engage in, and complete, the activities and requirements of Junior Seminar, which typically runs for all three Terms of the school year. Students will work to prepare for Senior Seminar, practicing each type of assignment expected during the Senior Process, expand on identity work, and explore post-high school options. Successful completion of Junior Seminar is required to move into the senior year.
Senior Seminar
A student’s Senior year at PSCS is the ultimate development and expression of the Arc of the Student Journey and is structured to showcase self-expression, motivation, and commitment to the community. 12th Grade students will spend their culminating year together in Senior Seminar, undergoing the Senior Process, and working on individual Senior Projects. Senior Projects will be formally presented to the community at our annual Senior Showcase in May. Successful completion of this project and meeting the WA State Graduation Requirements are needed in order to graduate from PSCS.
Three times per school year—Fall Term, Winter Term, and Spring Term—students and staff build and finalize the coming term’s course schedule (example).
Prior to each term, staff outline a Bell Schedule, gather interests and needs from students, through Advising and group process, then staff, volunteers, and even students pitch classes both in person and via the PSCS Current Course Blog. Students then prioritize and rank preferences through an online Stickering Process, and then the Conflict Resolution Team (made up of mostly students) works to eliminate as many schedule conflicts as possible. Schedule Mapping culminates in 2-3 sessions of a whole school process to move and shift class times and create a schedule that takes into consideration everyone's priorities and desires.
Various supports are available for all students through this process, which can be challenging, but which we believe sets young people. Advisors are present to support you through this core function at PSCS, and new students get extra support during this process from returning student buddies.
(The Current Course Blog is wiped after each term begins. If it's empty, please check out the PSCS Class Blog Archive.)
Scientific Inquiry, Self Care, African American & Latinx History, American Lit. Octavia’s Brood, Sex & Health, Drumming, Cultural Films, Intro to Philosophy, Business & Finance, Writing Personal Narratives, Geometry, College Explorations, Natural Latin, World Geography, WA State History, Indigenous Poetry, Soccer, Cephalopod Biology, Algebra, Summarize THIS!, Blog Writing, History of Pop Music, Queer History, Current Events, Student Leadership, Landscape Sketching, Drawing & Sculpture, Theater, Building Gliders.
The PSCS school day runs from 9am-3:40pm, Monday-Friday, unless otherwise specified.
Students are asked to arrive at school with enough time to sign in to our online Attendance System (created by past students and staff) in order to be seated at Morning Check-in by 9am.
At 3:30, we end the day with All School Check-out for 10 minutes.