Best Private Schools in Spokane
Eastern Washington's private-school field is dominated by Spokane, and Spokane's private-school field is dominated by the Catholic Church — specifically, by the Society of Jesus. Gonzaga Preparatory School, founded in 1887 by Father Joseph Cataldo, S.J. in the basement of what is now Gonzaga University's administration building, is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest schools west of the Rockies. Gonzaga Prep became a formal department of Gonzaga University in 1922, moved to its current Logan-neighborhood campus in 1954, and admitted its first 317 young women in 1975 — the fourth all-boys Jesuit high school in the country to go co-ed. With roughly 800 students it remains the largest Catholic high school in the diocese and the dominant Catholic college-preparatory pipeline in the Inland Northwest.
The Catholic parish K-8 network around Gonzaga Prep is unusually dense. Cataldo Catholic, St. Aloysius (the parish school of St. Al's, adjacent to Gonzaga University), All Saints, and St. Thomas More each operate mid-size programs that historically feed into Gonzaga Prep. Two schools named All Saints Catholic appear in the top ten as a result of the diocese's South Hill / Indian Trail restructuring; both report independently to federal surveys.
The non-Catholic top of the field is led by Saint George's School, founded in 1955 on a 120-acre property along the Little Spokane River. Saint George's became Spokane's first International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme school in 2014 and won the WIAA Scholastic Cup at the 2B classification level in both 2018 and 2020 — recognition that combines academic, arts, and athletic performance and is not commonly held by independent schools. Northwest Christian Schools in Colbert and Valley Christian in Spokane Valley anchor the evangelical Christian K-12 segment.
Enlightium Academy, headquartered in Spokane, reports roughly 3,800 students and is the largest line item on the regional federal survey — but its enrollment is a national distance-learning population, not a campus presence. The accredited online Christian school happens to have its administrative headquarters in Spokane; the headcount does not reflect any brick-and-mortar facility. Outside Enlightium, the field is overwhelmingly local.
Ranked schools
- 001GONZAGA PREPARATORY SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE2 HPM
- 002ENLIGHTIUM ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 003NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 004VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 005ST GEORGE'S SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 006ST ALOYSIUS CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 007CATALDO CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 008ST THOMAS MORE SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 009ASSUMPTION PARISH SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 010ST CHARLES CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 011ST MARY CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 012SPOKANE WINDSONG SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 013ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 014SOUTHSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 015LIBERTY LAUNCH ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 016ST MATTHEW LUTHERAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 017ST JOHN VIANNEY SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 018ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL SPOKANE(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 019CHESTERTON ACADEMY OF NOTRE DAME(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 020TRINITY CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 021FAITH BAPTIST ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 022ST MICHAEL'S ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 023SPOKANE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 024SUMMIT CHRISTIAN ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
- 025PIONEER SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · SPOKANE—
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