Best Private Elementary Schools in Olympia
Olympia and the surrounding South Puget Sound have no S- or A-tier private elementary schools by published-coverage standards — the market is small and lightly covered nationally. Three B-tier schools lead the regional list: St Michael School in Olympia (Catholic parish K-8, the largest Catholic K-8 in Thurston County), Northwest Christian Academy in Lacey (independent evangelical K-12), and Evergreen Christian School in Olympia (evangelical K-12 affiliated with Evergreen Christian Community).
A C-tier cluster of four schools rounds out the directory: Holy Family School (Catholic K-8 in Lacey), Faith Lutheran School in Lacey, Olympia Waldorf School (Waldorf K-8 in Olympia), and a few smaller religious programs. The category coverage is what families would expect for a smaller metro — Catholic, evangelical, Waldorf, Lutheran — without the secular-independent tier that defines Seattle and the Eastside markets.
Families in Thurston County who want secular K-8 options outside Waldorf typically look north toward Tacoma's Charles Wright or even further to Seattle's elite K-5 cohort, and accept the commute. The local market is best understood as religious-affiliated K-8 plus the Waldorf alternative; the Olympia private-elementary directory does not have a published-rankings flagship and the tier structure here reflects that reality.
B Tier · 3 schools
- 001ST MICHAEL SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · THURSTON237 students
- 002NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · THURSTON221 students
- 003EVERGREEN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · THURSTON201 students
All rankings · Live map