Northshore Christian Academy Review

Great private Christian school. Awesome teachers, staff, admin, etc. Top sports, programs and especially their arts. The best place to nurture your children.

My husband and I have been involved with NCA for 11 years; we've had our 4 children start in the ELC and move to the academy. Beyond our children being academically advanced, they are joyful kids, happy and excited to go to school, loved by teachers and friends, cared for and safely watched over. Teachers take special care with each of our children to walk with them where they are at in their social, emotional and academic walks. They focus on the whole child, which we love. It's not perfect by any means, but the administration is always looking to improve and asking questions to grow and learn and be better for the children they serve.
One of our favorite parts of Northshore is the amazing community of families in each of our children's grade levels; a welcoming and loving group of families who do life together! NCA is a really special place, we sure are thankful that we get to experience it.

I attended Northshore from preschool to 8th grade, and I feel confident that this school gave me a solid foundation for success. The strong academics at Northshore thoroughly prepared me for high school and even college. I made lifelong friends at Northshore that have lasted even when separating to other schools after 8th grade. Especially in elementary, I struggled with anxiety, but even through that, my teachers went the extra mile to make me feel calm and safe. Northshore is a fantastic place to grow up, and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

It was our first year at Northshore Academy. Both of our kids attended this school and we loved everything about it. Highly recommended it.

(Read til the end) As a school, regarding education, this place is absolutely amazing. I had a very positive experience with almost all of the teachers and I actually miss going there. I made a lot of friends and I don t think I could have been better prepared for high school. Regarding administrative and school board and disciplinary decisions, I can t say the same. First of all, they fired probably the students favorite teacher of all time for calling them out on their extremely childish chapel format. He understood us and had our best interests in heart and he was fired in an instant. Secondly, politics is very much involved in Disciplinary issues. I haven t had or heard of a single positive or even decent experience with the discipline section. I ve had a friend who got detention for being a victim of harassment, I ve had friends who were falsely accused of harassment out of spite by the rich popular girl, and of course their stories were waved away in an instant, and I myself now have a two-day suspension on my record for doing something that I never thought might be wrong, and that I still to this day do not know why it is wrong. (Notice I had never been in detention even in the 6 years I went to this school) If you aren t involved in the school and have varying political opinions from the administration, tread carefully. Definitely recommend this school but their policies on harassment are extended to putting jokes in your best friends lockers. Even when your friend finds it funny and doesn t complain. 4/10 for administration, 10/10 for education.

Our daughter and son have flourished here for the past 9 years! The administration, teachers, parents, students, and church have been a wonderful blessing to our family! I give my highest recommendation!

I volunteer and work on the auction and also the walkathon. The academy leaders are very personable and easy to work with. Each faculty member and staff put the kids first and are continually striving to be on the cutting edge of technology and educational excellence. I have 2 grandchildren at the school and both are ahead of their peers academically.

Awesome school, kids are stress less and free of dirty education

Love the teachers and staff! They are caring and supportive to both the students and parents. Classrooms challenge both of my children to learn academics and citizenship.

This is a wonderful Christian school which has a great education and teaches Christian values. If you want your children to have a Christian education which doesn't follow the insane current agenda in public schools then this is the place to send them.

Wonderful place for our children to attend. Part of this family/community for 10 yeats. The teachers and staff truly loved our children from the heart. So grateful for each one that encouraged and loved our girls through the years.

I could not be happier with our choice to send out boys here. The staff is wonderful and I know my kids are building a firm foundation, both spiritually and academically.

Within the first month of Kindergarten my son was reading, and his behavior at home improved dramatically. There is so much love and support for children AND parents. My son LOVES his school and so do I!

This school is amazing. We have our three children enrolled. Our oldest has been there since Pre K. To say the teachers, staff and principals care about the students just doesn't explain it enough. Our family has been so well cared for. Our youngest is needing some extra support and we have had no trouble finding it. This place truly has our children's best interests at heart. Not to mention the outstanding academics. As the children approach middle school, the school really tries to help pinpoint each student's strengths and help them grow and develop these areas. Our children have been challenged academically, but supported along the way to achieve their goals. We have been so impressed by the love and support of NCA. We highly recommend this school to anyone considering private education. We are so thankful that a school like this exists so close to home.

Northshore Christian Academy has been the absolute best choice for our two children who are in elementary and middle school. Our children are happy here, they are thriving academically, and they are growing emotionally and spiritually in wonderful ways. Northshore has a phenomenal STEM program focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. There is a an amazing Music program and fun options like Sports, Middle School Musical, Speech Meet, and Math Olympics plus after-school Arts and Enrichment classes. The teachers are caring and dedicated, and the administrators are very helpful. We LOVE NCA!

hello. If you are looking for a good education for your son/daughter be ready. this school has it all! bullies, people forcing their opinion onto you, teachers who are not only rude to students but pick favorites, and homework for days! now i want to help you to choose the right school for your child. people that i know that went to school there since pre K are corrupt. and the only way your child will get a good education is if they can handle 2-4 hours of homework each night, bullies, cliques, and bad teachers. now if you think that because these other reviews are all 4-5 stars, a few exceptions, don't trust them, have any of them actually been a student there? well let me tell you something. i am a student so I've see this all from the inside out and i do not want anyone else going to the school without being warned.
ps watch out for the teachers.

If you are looking for a private education where the teachers care for their students, then Northshore is an excellent choice. My children have been attending for five and six years, respectively, and they have greatly enjoyed their experience. Even when there are confrontations in class, the teachers and the principals, are quick to help guide the students to resolution. The staff is exceptional and the teachers care greatly about their students.

We have had our three children go through Northshore over the past 8 years. Northshore has become a pillar of our children's lives. As parents we found ourselves counting our blessings that we found Northshore. The leadership and faculty are dedicated to the kids both in their academic and personal development. Add in parents that are very involved and you have a culture that encouraged our children to thrive. As a private school they are able to offer excellent STEM programs along with music and the arts. We will forever be grateful to Northshore for the loving, amazing experience they provided for our children.

I am writing this on a separate account in case the staff finds this; that is how steep their discipline is. I am a student and let me say, they have a good education, it's the teachers. Most of them are bad, but there are those super rare nice ones. Last year a friend of mine was forced to sign something he did not want to sign. Also, there were many kids expelled for doing little things last year. The teachers, most of them are sexist and pick favorites. They don't show up to teach they show up to get paid. And if you are not Christian, you are asked to leave.

Our two children have attended NCA since Kindergarten and Second Grade, and are now in 6th and 8th. We have found NCA to be a fantastic school in academics, teacher values, and overall preparation. Highly recommended.

Racism is rampant in this school. If you are an interracial family your child will never do the right thing, and they will be made to feel that way every single day. They will get depressed and eventually you will move them to a different school. You will then be shocked at how well they adjust back to their normal pre-Northshore selves. Several families have moved their children out of this school for the exact same reason. Makes one wonder why the school admits people it does not want anyway. Why not just admit the white kids you prefer and shamelessly favor??

My grandchildren attended NCA. When my grandson struggled in band due to Nystagmus, a vision condition in which the eyes make repetitive, uncontrolled movements and result in reduced vision, he was whisked away to sit all by himself in computer lab while his classmates attended band. When his parents complained, they were ignored. When they finally met with the administration they were met with arrogance and impatience. I should note that these parents were tireless in raising money for NCA. My grandson then got in trouble for, and I am not making this up, for "wearing the wrong shade of blue." If your kids can fit in with being in a Disney musical, send them to NCA. If you want a true Christian walk, then don't. Nothing in the administration's and faculty treatment of a child with learning challenges was met with compassion and understanding. My grandson now attends a different school and is thriving because he is treated with kindness and patience by the administration.

My wife and I have been affiliated with Northshore Christian Academy since 1999 when we had a granddaughter enrolled in the 4th and 5th grades and now a great grandson (whom we are raising) enrolled since the 1st grade and he is now in the 7th grade. This school is one of the best in the state and public schools love to get our Northshore students after they graduate from the 8th grade because they are more advanced academically and are well disciplined. We both volunteer for various activities within the school. I am very pleased with this school and would highly recommend it. I guarantee you would be more than pleased and be assured, your child will get a good education.

We are very blessed to have our children at NCA. They enjoy school and are thriving, while each being different. Our son is very STEM minded and loves all the opportunities to learn about technology. Our daughter is thriving, while receiving the support she needs. Our family feels at home with our school community. The teachers share faith and the love of learning with our children. NCA has excellent academics and each student is given the support and opportunities they need to shine!

In short, Northshore has gotten way too big for its britches and forgot that it is the parents that pay the school tuition and that it needs to be accountable to the parents and not the other way around. It was wonderful the first year because of Mrs. Davis, then it was terrible the second year. We paid tuition here to have people protect our son, guide him and teach him. Instead of that, Northshore was trying to invade our lives by allowing him to be abused by a teacher and a staff member, as well as tell us that we weren't allowed to pack cookies or small treats for our son. Their attitude towards us was that we should shut up or leave. That is not how a school that charges thousands of dollars for tuition should be treating the parents who pay their salaries. Mrs. Meader, a teacher, threatened to call the cops on my son in front of my wife for supposedly littering at a zoo field trip, then she lied about it to the Principal Mr. Rehnberg, who shrugged his shoulders on it and sent us away with a condescending pat on the head. Mrs. Meader also called my wife a liar. Ms. Woodson, one of the aftercare employees would scream abuses at the kids and punish entire groups if the kids even made a noise, and this took place in front of her supervisor. It was to the point where several parents had complained about it. The response we got for complaining was "you can't expect much when you pay $10.00 an hour." After a meeting with the school principal, Mrs. Leach, in a very backhanded fashion she suggested that we were no longer welcome at the school for complaining about the staff and that she didn't think it was the parent's business how their staff was disciplined. She said our son was welcome at the school, but if we had issues with the after-school care staff then we should simply not come back. I was shocked and horrified at the conversation and immediately placed our son in another school. I do not recommend this school and would suggest any of the other fine schools in the area that don't have the same attitude that they are not accountable to those that pay the tuition.

I went to Northshore in elementary school, and let me give you a little inside look of what it really looks like. It seems really friendly with lots of strong family values but this is the most oppressive place I have ever set foot in. Not only do they force their opinions on you but they physically force you to do things you don't want to do. For example, I remember one kid said he didn't believe in God and he got in trouble Which is fine I get it, it's a Christian School but a week of lunch detention seems excessive. Which doesn't even solve the problem they should have just left it alone or told their parents. We we're taught that abortion was only "killing a child" also my old friends that went there have told me that many of the kids have depression and have resorted to cutting. The teachers aren't bad but the way they deal with things is repulsive and not necessary. For example, a boy said he was going to shoot up the school and I brought it to the principle's attention because everyone was scared and all he said was "well that's what boys do" but me not wanting to sing during chapel because I am uncomfortable is a hate crime to God. This has left me with issues with school, I have social anxiety and I'm deathly afraid to ask for help incase I look dumb. Which has left me with really bad grades. If you're thinking of putting your child into the hands of these sociopaths I would highly suggest you do not.

its A good school but I went there and the students always make fuN of me of my accent anD many other characteRics of me ! the teachers arE ok except for one that is sending 12 pg of BIG PAGES FULL OF PARAGRAPHS that we need to copy into our note books I don't like the school and I am glad that I left. If you want a good school for your kid then let him go to NCA from grade one to grade five , because after that it all back to people making fun of each other.
The best thing about the school is that it has electives that are useful unlike history / learning about a tribe that died out about 700 years ago / but how to do taxes. Did you knoW that this school actually soffens the feelings not hardens it. About the teacher, its a she and is in middle school I have a clue for you on what grade

This school has a pretty good education. I attended from kindergarten - 5th grade, but that being said, this school has left me with scars that a good education simply cannot outweigh. This school is racist, homophobic, and downright wrong. Especially if you are a person of colour. It has left me with so much social anxiety and hurt that continues to hurt me today. I ve have seen therapists and I have healed some over time but I still have a long way to go. Please, please, as a former student. Do not send your children to school. ESPECIALLY if you re a person of colour.

Unfortunately, having three children at NCA is very costly. Even though they have financial aid it is not available for first-year students. If you are excepted after attending a full year the financial aid is not an amount that could truly help someone out. They are not willing to work with you whatsoever on financial matters And expect you to pay insane amounts for teacher and facility fees every year along with your 11 months of school payments. Don t forget about the school supplies list that costs a fortune that have to go into a community box for sharing. I get it s a private school and you re expected to pay the bill when you are a Christian God preaching school you tend to believe Them when they say they truly care about everyone and you d think they d all have a little bit of grace and understanding to financial struggle them when they say they truly care about everyone and you d think they d all have a little bit and understanding to financial struggles s. Especially when one family alone is forking out at least two grand. I emailed the school to let them know our financial situation and they did not seem to care at all they just wrote back explaining the fees are due when they re due and that s that. Since no one was willing to work with us we had to make the decision to not have them attend for this school year. The icing on the cake was when I went to write the school to tell them we wouldn t be able to attend because of their unwillingness to work with us I didn t even get an email back!! I wasn t expecting much but I thought they would of at least replied back with an, I m going to miss your kids or I m so sorry this happened SOMETHING. This school got over 25,000 from us last year between tuition and donations. They also got a volunteer helping out 20 plus hours a week and a room mom. I guess non of that mattered though now that they aren t receiving anymore money. I got NOTHING in return for our withdrawal letter. Instead I got a final bill statement and my Childrens classes and all their information and access was all deleted within a day of sending the with drawl letter. They were so quick to send that final bill yet couldn t find two seconds to write I m sorry. This speaks volumes. I guess we truly were just a number to them! They could care less about us UNLESS we are paying them that is. So unfortunate and so disappointing.

Every thing is steeply declining good teachers left ,have to use chrome books the school can buy better ones for $200. Cramped no freedom to walk around about every thing is going DOWN. Some teachers are just sexist and have favorites. Not cool and agin WAYYYYY to cramped. Most of the good reviews are just teachers and staff btw and I am writing this on a separate account in case staff find out!

We attended Northshore Christian Academy for 8 years and loved it. The teachers are wonderful and caring. I highly recommend it. We live 30 minutes from the school and were able to find a car pool and continued year after year.

The Elementary principal is abusive. Do not let her near your kid. We left and have never been happier. This school may have been good at one time. Current administration is incompetent.

My granddaughter has attended Northshore Christian Academy for 11 years, since beginning in the Early Learning Center at the age of 1. Over those years I've watched as she has been challenged and grown in her academic studies, and in the area of her development into a confident speaker and presenter. As important as those things are for her future, of greater importance is knowing she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior at an early age right here at NCA. Her teachers played an important role in that process. It brings me great joy watching as the love of Jesus exudes from her in her relationships with others. If you are seeking a firm foundation to build your child's life upon, it's all here at NCA. Spiritual and academic nurturing are its hallmarks!

Great school. Great location. Great teachers. Great facilities and special after school classes offered. The STEM program and project lead the way program are fantastic.

When it was time to put my daughter in school my husband ( attended private school) felt very strongly on doing private school. He felt that by putting her there that she would be more educated. As for me (attended public school) I did not care if it was public or private just as long as my child was happy and learning. My daughter ended up attending NCA from K-3rd and over the course of those few years I watched her struggle and get further and further behind. By the middle of 3rd grade I finally had convinced my husband that NCA was not helping our daughters education but infact hindering it. By the time I pulled her out she had lost all confidence in herself and was 2 grade lvls behind in both math and reading. She is now in a public school and almost done with 4th grade. She has had lots of one on one and has gone to tutoring that the school provides. In just one school year she managed to find confidence in herself again and bring her reading and math up to her grade lvl. So happy we made the change! Although NCA was not a right fit for my daughter I can see how it would be a great place for other kids. If your kid needs to be challenged this is a great place!

What we liked
First off the school is extremely welcoming and all the teachers are really nice and helpful and constantly keep parents involved and informed which I loved. They also did tons of extra fun activities like charity work, party's, concerts, field trips just to name a few. It seemed like every week there was some big activity they would be doing. we really do miss the wonderful teachers and all the fun activities that we Did at NCA.

what we didn't like
Homework is an all day every day thing. We would get home from school at about 5pm and we would do HW till 9pm and some times later. we also did lots of hw on weekends. i know 2 other families that attended the school and they had to do the same thing because the amount of work given is a lot. There was never enough time to really focus on areas that my daughter needed help on because there was to much HW. They also give the kids to many extracurricular activities that are required for HW. Such as projects, Spanish, biblical to name a few. They also expect kids to do more then just grade lvl work. For an example in 2nd grade My daughter had to study for a test on the definitions of atoms, neutrons, electrons, protons ect... Not an easy concept for a 2nd grader to grasp. I'm pretty sure that all the extracurricular activities that were required is why my daughter fell so far behind. I even had one of the teachers tell me she had never worked for a school that had such a demanding curriculum. In my opinion sometimes less is more. The last thing I did not like is when my daughter was in kidnigarten they basically told us that if we did not put my daughter in tutoring classes she would not be able to attend the following year. Hint: this is why they have high testing scores. It's a business so why would they keep kids that are going to drop testing scores. Anyway we paid for tutoring and it didn't help, but we did what they asked so they let us stay.

In short if your kid needs to be challanged or does well in school with little effort this might be the perfect place for your child. If your kid struggles in school or has to study really hard to get good grades I suggest going somewhere else.

One last thing if your kid does go to this school dont let them be in Mrs. Meaders class. My daughter is really quit and well behaved so she never did anything to her, but my daughter would come home crying and would tell me horrible stores about what this lady did to other kids. She talked about her throwing things in the class and trying to humiliate kids in front of the rest of the class.

I see a lot of positive reviews for this school, but all I see are from parents. Side note, at least several of the reviews are confirmed to be from school staff, so let that set in. As a former student (now in high school) I thought I would provide my perspective. The fact is, Northshore is slightly more advanced than public schools in math and maybe science. That does little to justify a multi-thousand dollar cost, strict rules, occasionally insane teachers and an overprotective environment that somehow doesn't actually help its students with life skills, forces opinions on its students, such as: do not stay up late, or you might just become a sinner; do not listen to Wiz Khalifa; vote for the right candidates; and clear out at least 2 hours a day for homework. My gosh, the homework. Not exaggerating, the homework could be multiple hours a day in 5th grade, and only increasing from there. The fact is, Northshore has very little for Christian values but very much for grabbing money. For example, yearly fundraisers, getting up to $100,000 a year (yes, 100 big k's.) The school banned on average one ridiculous thing a year. No Harry Potter books in 3rd grade, no Silly Bandz in 4th grade, no Hunger Games in 5th, Smarties in 6th, squirt guns in 7th, literally saying the name Shrek in 8th and probably something after I left too. The school is opressive, paranoid, money grabbing and yet allows things to go unpunished such as a tissue box being thrown at a student by his teacher. Frankly, I regret going to Northshore Christian Academy. Frankly, so will you.

TLDR: School ruined my life but taught me how to use a semicolon so it gets 2 stars.

First and foremost, it was extremely important to me and my wife for our daughter to receive a Christian education to prepare her to make "God-honoring" decisions in her life based on biblical truth. Northshore Christian Academy is doing a fantastic job fulfilling our expectation with regard to providing a foundation to help us build upon. They have been terrific about partnering with us and including us in the process of our daughter's emotional, social, physical, spiritual and academic development. There have been a few small issues we have had with daily routines but we understand that the teachers must maintain a structured and safe environment for all of the children so we yield to these mostly insignificant concerns which aren't even worth expounding upon. Our daughter is in the pre-kindergarten program so I can't provide extensive insight regarding the grades beyond her current care, but I will tell you that we're quite pleased with what we have already experienced in our first year of attendance. I would add that there is an extremely diverse cohort represented throughout my daughter's classroom which I think is crucial for her to be exposed to at an early age to understand and accept that we are all God's children and that we are called to care for and love on everyone even if they may look different than we do. My biggest disappointment is that there are currently no plans to provide an extended education beyond the eighth grade! I hope you find this review valuable and feel strongly that Northshore is place where the teachers clearly care deeply for your children and want to see them grow and mature into Christian leaders in whatever communities they may end up serving in.

We have two kids at this school and in our 3rd year. We are loving the teachers, principles and staff - they are incredibly dedicated, loving and very responsive to the changing needs of the student body.

NCA is not without their problems, but they also provide a solid education. The school is Christian-based, so you should expect that they will teach Christian principles. They also allow secular students/families to enroll. I was reading other reviews on this site and some of them seem to deliberately aim to undermine the reputation of the school. NCA is not racist! Their student body is comprised of numerous ethnic minorities, some of whom are Christian, and others whose parents recognize that NCA provides one of the best educations in the region. The price of tuition has gone up over the years and for our family has made the choice to enroll our daughter elsewhere, partly because of the cost. Middle school experiences a significant increase in tuition. Our experience has been good, but as I stated, NCA is not without their issues. There are disruptive kids who seemingly are allowed to remain in the classroom indefinitely, even as they continue to exhibit bad behaviors. I say that because we experienced it firsthand, and NCA has a pretty strict policy on discipline. The challenge is that you don't want to remove a child from the school for the poor behavior, and you want to show grace as much as you can, but at some point the impact on the other students needs to be taken into consideration before the individual student. There is no perfect answer to this, it just became a point of frustration for us. I wouldn't discourage anyone from exploring NCA as an option, I would simply suggest you exercise caution in doing so. The bottom line is that if you're a Christian family looking for a solid educational experience for your child, NCA will probably end up being the most desirable school you come across in the Everett/Mukilteo area.

This school left deep emotional scars on my son after being there only 2 1/2 years.

I only attended this school for 5 months over 20 yrs ago as a 7th grader (Sept 1996-February 1997). I'd say it was borderline traumatic. Doesn't sound like much has changed either. So thankful I moved in with my dad mid February of 1997 and started public middle school or I think I'd be a total whack job today. I have 3 children now and would rather die than have them attend this place. They basically just scare you into thinking if you don't believe everything they do then guess what? You're going to hell with the rest of them. Yuck.

NCA is built on lies. They do not provide a Christ-centered learning environment, they fake reviews by having their own people write them, and they are not nice.