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St. Thomas School

Private school · Medina, King County · grades PK-8 · nonsectarian

Snapshot

K-12 enrollment
294
SBE-reported, 2024-25
Tuition (top division)
$47,900
2026-27, school-published

Identity and approval

Campus
St Thomas School, 8300 NE 12th St, Medina 98039
Host public district
Bellevue School District
Grades
PK-8
Religious affiliation
nonsectarian
Coed / single-sex
coed
Accreditation
NWAIS
Website
https://www.stthomasschool.org
WA SBE approval
2026-27 (state-approved private school)
Profit status
Nonprofit

Enrollment

K12345678
363838403936212719

Enrollment by grade, 2024-25 school year, as reported to the WA State Board of Education.

Tuition and financial aid

Annual tuition
$47,900 (2026-27)
By division / fees
Preschool $22,500; PreK $25,100; K-4 $43,500; 5-8 $47,900. All-inclusive (no mandatory fees).
Financial aid
$1,025,700 total aid awarded; 9.5% of ~370 students receive grants; average grant $28,492.

Source: the school's own tuition page · aid page, observed 2026-07-03. Tuition changes annually, verify before applying.

Academics

Curriculum
PK-8; all-inclusive tuition model.
College matriculation
Publishes 'Beyond STS' page on graduates' secondary-school placements.
Washington private schools are not required to publish state assessment results, and this school's internal test data is not public. Unlike the public-school pages on this site, no score comparison is possible here, treat curriculum labels and matriculation lists as the available evidence.

Research dossier

St. Thomas School

Independent school in Medina · preschool through grade 8 · 294 K-8 students plus 68 preschoolers (Washington State Board of Education, 2024-25) · coed and nonsectarian despite the name · accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), in Bellevue School District territory

The verdict

Start with the two things the name gets wrong: St. Thomas School is not Catholic and not parochial. It was founded in 1951 as an Episcopal parish school and long ago went fully secular. The daily "Chapel" that survives is a character-and-public-speaking assembly, not a worship service. What it actually is: the Eastside's highest-touch PK-8 feeder, priced at $47,900 for grades 5-8 in 2026-27 under a genuinely all-inclusive model (laptops, lunch, athletics, textbooks, overnight trips, no add-on fees). Behind it sit $90.4 million in assets for roughly 370 children and a staffed outplacement office whose product is your child's next admit, from Lakeside and Overlake to East Coast boarding schools. The number that should shape your planning sits in the enrollment table. Cohorts of 36-40 per grade through elementary shrink to 21 in 6th grade and 19 in 8th (Washington State Board of Education, 2024-25), because Eastside families routinely exit for 6-12 schools rather than risk the 9th-grade admissions scrum. Buy it for the elementary years and the placement machinery. But decide early whether your child will be one of the nineteen who finish, and know that over 90% of families pay full freight.

Researched 2026-07-04. Citations and claim ledger included in the full dossier.

That is the free excerpt. The full dossier covers what the school's own marketing won't: admissions mechanics and real selectivity, all-in cost and aid behavior, matriculation depth, culture and fit signals, institutional health, every claim cited and dated. Unlock it for $9, or get a $29 Research Pass with 3 dossiers included.

The real comparison is against your public options.

Tuition here runs five figures a year, the question is what it buys over the public schools your address already gives you. A $29 Research Pass unlocks score trends, peer percentiles, competition evidence, gifted-pathway detail, and PTA capacity on every public school in the region, plus 3 full research dossiers for the schools on your shortlist.

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Sources

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