Our Admissions Process
Thank you for your interest in learning more about our program and community— we encourage you to explore the website, follow our Facebook page and Instagram, and most importantly, connect with our passionate educators, school leaders, and families through a variety of events hosted each admissions season.
Finding the best match—for school, child, and family—takes time and trust. Our goal is to understand your hopes and expectations for your child’s education and to share our mission and program with you. Throughout the process, we look for families whose values align with our community.
At Meridian, we are:
- Guided by a belief in the power of a wide range of human potential. We approach each child’s learning flexibly and responsively.
- Committed to social justice as a human value. We are recognized leaders in creating a school culture of equity and inclusion.
- Inspired by the science and art of teaching and learning. Meridian creates a learning environment community for both students and adults.
- Dedicated to the importance of connection; we foster a vibrant, diverse community with shared values.
- Located in the historic Good Shepherd Center in Meridian Park. We foster community relationships, neighborhood engagement, and place-based experiential learning.
At Meridian, we believe that an excellent education thrives in an increasingly diverse and inclusive environment. For this reason, we are committed to offering an accessible educational program for mission-appropriate students, regardless of a family’s ability to pay the full cost of tuition. To learn more about financing a Meridian education, please visit our Tuition Assistance page.
Our Application
The Meridian School is one of many Seattle-area schools using the web-based application Ravenna to manage admissions forms and event registration. With the exception of a few school-specific questions, all of the documents required are common forms that are shared among multiple schools. This means that you will only need to complete these forms once before electronically submitting them to the schools that utilize Ravenna. We require the following documents for all applicants:
- Parent/Guardian Statement Form (which includes common questions and Meridian-specific questions)
- Meridian Application Acknowledgement Form
- Teacher Evaluation Form
- Cumulative school records and reports (applicants for grades 1–5 only)
Required Admissions EventsExperience Meridian: Information Session (REQUIRED)
Weekly information sessions (October–January) will include a general overview of our academic program, approach to learning, equity and inclusion initiatives, and community highlights. We will provide an opportunity for Q&A with school leaders and parent ambassadors. Register today!
In-Person Campus Tour (REQUIRED)
For applicant families who have attended an Experience Meridian Information Session. These tours will be small groups and provide a glimpse into a day in the life of a Meridian student and the opportunity to see our facilities.
Family Conversations (REQUIRED)
We look forward to getting to know each of our applicant families. Families schedule 30-minute conversations with the Director of Enrollment Management once they submit an application.
Kindergarten applicants will visit on Saturday, February 11. Grade 1–5 applicants will visit their current grade-level class for a full school day the week of March 6. Details about the pre-kindergarten visit day will be shared soon. More details about the student visit are on Ravenna.
We plan to offer additional opportunities for families to learn more about The Meridian School. Please continue to check Ravenna for added events.
If you are interested in connecting with a member of our parent community, please email admissions@meridianschool.edu and we would be happy to put you in touch. Connecting with our parent community is a great way to learn more about The Meridian School and hear about their personal experiences.
- Do you have a kindergarten age cut-off policy?
The majority of our kindergarten applicants turn 5 years old on or before September 1. However, we will consider students with later birthdays. We know that kindergarten readiness is dependent on many factors, so age and birth date do not dictate our admissions process.
- Do you offer financial aid?
Yes! At Meridian we believe that an excellent education thrives in an increasingly diverse and inclusive school community. For this reason, we are committed to offering an accessible educational program to mission-appropriate students, regardless of a family’s ability to pay the full cost of tuition. For the 2022–2023 school year, our tuition assistance program supports 23% of our student body, and the average annual tuition for an award recipient is $16,193. Awards range from 10% to 98% of the cost of tuition. Tuition assistance applications are evaluated separately from the admissions process. To learn more about financing a Meridian education, please visit the Tuition Assistance page of our website.
- Do you require an educational evaluation/IQ testing for admission?
No, we do not require testing, as we do not discriminate in our admissions process in any of a variety of areas, including student learning differences and abilities. If you would like to voluntarily provide us with supporting documentation (individual assessments, evaluations, or reports), you are able to upload files on our Parent/Guardian Statement Form.
- My child is gifted—is Meridian the right program for my child?
At Meridian we believe that a diverse learning environment best prepares students for success in middle school and beyond. True to our mission of balance, we strive to create classroom cohorts that are representative of a range of learning styles and abilities. Many children who attend Meridian have been identified as highly capable or gifted by educational psychologists. Our approach to learning allows us to tailor our learning environment, methods of instruction, and curriculum in order to support or enrich student learning.
- Our family is relocating to Seattle. Can you make adjustments to the student and parent visit requirements?
Yes! Relocating families apply to our program every year, and we do our very best to accommodate a family’s planned Seattle visits. Assuming that school is in session when you travel to Seattle, we are able to host the required parent tour and student visit on the same day. We are flexible and willing to arrange these visits on days that are mutually convenient, as we recognize that attending a weekly tour and our predetermined student visit date is often not possible for families residing outside of Washington state or the U.S.
That said, we require all families to complete our application process before our decision notification date of March 18, 2023 if they want to be considered for admission in our first round of enrollment. If a family has not completed the entirety of our application process before the notification date, they are eligible for late admission if spaces remain available after March 25, 2023 (new family enrollment deadline). We have a rolling admissions process after March 25, 2023, and will fill spaces throughout the spring if we have openings for fall 2023 entry.
If you are a relocating applicant and need to arrange an alternate parent tour and student visit date, please contact our team at admissions@meridianschool.edu.
- What are our financial obligations upon enrollment?
A nonrefundable deposit of 5% of tuition for the upcoming academic year is due upon enrollment. Families who have completed the enrollment process are liable for specific portions of the tuition balance throughout the spring, as detailed in our enrollment contract and listed below.
Families are committed to:
- 25% of the tuition balance after April 20.
- 50% of the tuition balance after May 20.
- 100% of the tuition balance after June 20.
- What does it mean to be in the wait pool?
Each year we have more qualified applicants than we have seats available. Our wait pool consists of students who we believe would thrive at Meridian but for whom we don’t currently have space. Students in the wait pool may be offered admission as early as March or as late as September. We do not have a ranked list within our wait pool, as we take many factors into consideration when creating a diverse, balanced, grade-level cohort.
- What is your COVID-19 vaccination policy?
All eligible children must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the 2022–2023 school year unless they have a documented medical or religious exemption. Exemptions will be considered through individual appointments with the Head of School. If your student will be under age five at the start of the school year, the expectation is that you will schedule their first dose appointment at your earliest convenience after their fifth birthday.
