Welcome to Academy Schools!

If you are visiting our website because you are searching for a school where your child can be understood, supported, challenged, and genuinely happy to come to school, I am so glad you found us.

At Academy Schools, we believe every child deserves to be known—not simply by their grade level, diagnosis, test scores, or the things that are difficult for them, but as a whole and wonderfully individual person. Our students bring different strengths, interests, personalities, ways of communicating, and ways of experiencing the world. Our job is not to ask them to fit into a predetermined idea of what a student should be. It is to understand who they are, meet them where they are, and help them grow from there.

Educating the Whole Child

You will often hear schools talk about educating the “whole child.” At Academy Schools, that is much more than a phrase.

We know that learning cannot be separated from a child’s sense of safety, belonging, confidence, and emotional well-being. A student who is overwhelmed, anxious, dysregulated, or worried about being judged cannot fully access even the best academic lesson. That is why social-emotional learning, self-advocacy, executive functioning, communication, and regulation are woven into the school day alongside reading, writing, math, science, history, and the arts. These are not extras. They are essential tools for learning—and for life.

Every student at Academy has a Student Success Plan built around their individual strengths, needs, and goals. Our teachers get to know their students deeply and adapt instruction accordingly while continuing to hold meaningful expectations for growth. We celebrate progress that may look different from child to child: tackling a challenging academic concept, recovering after frustration, joining a group, asking for help, speaking up for a need, discovering a new passion, or doing something independently for the first time.

Supports and Partnerships

We don’t do this work alone. We believe children are best served when the adults supporting them work together. We partner closely with families and collaborate with outside professionals, including ABA providers, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and other specialists. As an OSPI-approved Nonpublic Agency (NPA), we can also partner with public school districts to serve students whose educational needs require a different environment.

Above all, Academy Schools is a community built around relationships.

We want every student who walks through our doors to know: You are safe here. You are valued here. You belong here. We believe in you.

Our goal is not simply to help students succeed at Academy Schools. It is to help them understand themselves, develop the tools they need, discover what they are capable of, and leave us better prepared to navigate whatever comes next—high school, college, employment, relationships, independent living, and a life that is authentically their own.

Tuition Assistance

We also believe that an Academy Schools education should be accessible to families who need it. Through financial aid, district partnerships, and our work as an NPA, we strive to make our school available to students for whom this community can make a meaningful difference.

There is extraordinary joy in watching a child begin to see themselves differently—to realize that struggling in one environment never meant they were incapable of succeeding. Sometimes the right environment changes everything.

I invite you to visit Academy Schools, meet our teachers and students, and experience our community for yourself. I hope you will see what I see every day: a school filled with remarkable young people who deserve to be understood, supported, challenged, celebrated, and loved.

We would be honored to be part of your child’s journey.

Warmly,

Ashley Hobbs, Head of School
Academy Schools