Amazing school and community. This school has been so open and welcoming of our family. The commute from Seattle is easy, given there are 2 bus routes crossing the lake, and my son loves the bus ride to school every day. The inquiry based learning method really seems to increase my sons engagement and curiosity. Now in kindergarten he asks thoughtful questions about the world around him and tries to propose experiments that might confirm his hypothesis.

I have three children currently enrolled at the Jewish Day School and I couldnt be happier. I feel the curriculum is challenging and fun and the teachers are more interested in helping my girls grow as people rather than just filling out a grade sheet. The staff is very attentive to each of my daughters individual needs and the communication each week is both personal and informative. My children each have different styles of learning and the faculty takes the time to focus on each one in a way that creates a comprehensive, enriched learning experience. My wife and I love and support this school and cant wait to see my girls grow into confident, enthusiastic, amazing people, with JDS to thank for it.

While our older daughter was thriving in the public schools, as our younger daughter approached kindergarten, we could see that a smaller and sweeter environment was needed for her. So, we looked at several private schools, with the intention of staying only for kindergarten. The night before my tour at JDS, I almost cancelled my appointment- I did not see myself as a Jewish Day School parent, the school was too far away from our home, and the cost felt out of reach. I did, however keep the appointment, and after observing in several classrooms, knew that this was the right place for our daughter.Five years later, my child has blossomed from a shy, terrified kindergartener who would not look someone in the eye to say hello to a confident, engaged learner. At JDS, she has been treasured for who she is- the school actively appreciates and cultivates non-academic skills such as kindness and cooperation, which built a foundation of confidence on which her academic skills could bloom. Students are met where they are, are appreciated, supported, and encouraged to continually grow and stretch, all while knowing their strengths as learners. The opportunities to ask questions, think deeply, explore, and create are vastly different than our other daughters experience in public school. And while we were not drawn to JDS because of the Jewish content, that is a big part of why we have stayed. Our younger daughters sense of who she is, and what she can contribute to this world is deeply rooted in Jewish values, and has been a powerful contribution to her development and to our family as a whole. We cannot say enough about how thrilled we are to be part of this community.

JDS was our Jewish community in Bellevue.My son attended JDS from PK-4 - 6th grade.This school is everything...and more.From the teachers, the grounds, the activities, the administration, the learning, field trips, assemblies, holiday celebrations, amazing middle school - just say YES to JDS.

TERRIFIC school! We have two kids who have previously been through the school and a current 8th grade student, and couldnt be happier with their education and the school environment and culture. JDS gives individual attention to each student, from special-needs to highly gifted and everything in between. The academics are top-notch; our high-school students were on average a year ahead of their peers after graduating from JDS. The warm and pluralistic Jewish culture gave them familiarity with our traditions and texts, a proud Jewish identity, a foundation (not quite fluency) in Hebrew, and an attachment to Israel. They really absorbed the lessons of being upstanders and responsible community members. The relationships between teachers and students, and between parents and school, is a true partnership. We will miss JDS when our youngest graduates this year!

My husband and I bought our house in the neighborhood we did (Kirkland) because we fully intended to send our kids to the excellent local public school ... but my older daughter was extremely quiet and we just knew she’d be swallowed whole in a large kindergarten class. We decided to try out JDS, mostly because of its smaller classroom size, for just a year until she got a bit more confident.…. and we were hooked. We really love it here. My oldest daughter is now in 5th grade and has been at JDS since kindergarten. My younger daughter is in 2nd grade and has been at JDS since junior kindergarten.From the welcoming community to the fact that the teachers really know and support and love our girls in the specific ways that they need. Both my daughters have blossomed academically (which is a given at a private school, right?) but also socially. Unlike my older daughter, my younder one would likely be totally fine in most any school environment, but shes still really benefited from the unique attention she gets and all the focus on the social/emotional stuff. The shy older daughter actually joined the volleyball team this year -- much to everyones SHOCK including my own -- which just shows us all the impact JDS has had. It was also funny how many other parents, even families that were not super close with, commented to me about how great it was to see her participating in a team sport and how much shes grown. It has been so fantastic to see how shes changed from this timid, nearly-silent kindergartener to a more outgoing, confident girl. (Okay Ill stop bragging!)What else can I say? Im Jewish and my husband is not, so theres that. We dont belong to a synagogue but Id consider us active in that we celebrate holidays at home, my kids go to Jewish sleepaway camp in the summers, etc. (That said, we also have an Xmas tree every year and celebrate Easter.) There are also JDS families that are affiliated with synagogues and are fairly strictly observant, and then there are folks at the other end of the spectrum that dont do much of anything. There are a lot of flavors of Judaism at the school and its all welcomed and supported.I can not highly recommend JDS enough.

Overall, our child received a decent education. Culturally, it wasn’t the right fit for us.

Great community with an outstanding academic level