Beyond SWS
What Comes Next?
Grade 8 students who graduate from our school are excited and prepared for what comes next. Students attend a range of area high schools, often landing at highly competitive independent or speciality high schools. All of our graduates are thriving academically and socially at their new schools and have felt prepared for the workload, the social scene, and have jumped into clubs, athletics, and other opportunities.
How Do We Measure Success?
Our students are resilient, capable, and confident young people who love to learn and know how to be in community with others. In today’s world of AI and constant change, we need creative, critical thinkers who can adapt quickly and lead with empathy. That’s exactly what Waldorf nurtures and these foundations serve our graduates throughout their life.
When students leave our school, they are prepared for the increased rigor, academic load, and technology usage at public, private, and parochial high schools. They often place into high level math or world language programs and are eager to be involved in clubs, athletics, student government, and service opportunities. As freshman, they seek out their teachers, ask questions, contribute to class discussion, and navigate the social realm of high school with confidence and ease.
Where do our Students go to High School?
Our students end up at schools as varied as they are! Through our High School Outplacement Program, each family is supported in finding the right next step for their student. Graduates choose schools based on a variety of factors: academic offerings, athletic opportunities, location, cost, and the experience they have as they interact with area schools. This list includes schools that graduates have attended in the past few years.
Ballard High School
Garfield High School
Holy Names Academy
Inglemoor High School
Ingraham High School
Middle College High School
Nathan Hale High School
Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA)
Lakeside School
Lake Washington High School
Nathan Hale High School
Roosevelt High School
Seattle Academy (SAAS)
Seattle Prep
Shorecrest High School
Shorewood High School
Summit Sierra
The Bush School
The Downtown School
The Northwest School
High School Outplacement
SWS offers a highly individualized approach to the high school search process that allows grade 8 families to find the school that is going to be the best match for them. As part of their life skills curriculum, students are supported in preparing for high school, applications, interviews, and standardized testing. Each fall we host an Alumni Night where recent graduates come back to talk not just about their school, but the adjustment to high school and how SWS prepared them for this transition.
Showcasing SWS Alums
SWS alums puruse a variety of fields and sectors around the world! The sky is the limit. We are fortunate to have some of them return as teachers and to see their children as students in our classes. Our students also benefit from their visits back to campus. Last year, singer/songwriter Lila Forde ’13 sang with our students at an assembly and this year grade 5 painted with watercolor artist Sophia Trihn, and attended a performance by Acrobatic Conundrum featuring circus performer, Ezra Weill.
SWS Alumni on Campus
Our students love to return to campus to attend festivals and plays. They volunteer as Alumni Ambassadors at Open Houses and at our annual Alumni Night for our middle school families as they plan for high school. You will certainly find them selling handmade items at Winter Faire this year, applauding the 8th graders during their project presentations and at graduation, and returing to cheer on the rising grade 8 class on games day at the end of the school year.
Resources
Stay current on what's happening with SWS alumni on our alumni Facebook page.