St. Philomena Catholic School is a Catholic PK-8 in Des Moines, Washington, founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, with kindergarten added in 1986 and the current structure serving roughly 275 students single-stream through 8th grade. The school is part of the Archdiocese of Seattle network and now operates with an entirely lay faculty.
For families on the south King County / north Pierce corridor, St. Philomena's peer set is the cluster of archdiocesan parish K-8s in the area: Holy Family (Auburn), St. Vincent de Paul (Federal Way), and St. Anthony (Renton). Beyond the immediate Catholic options, the secular alternatives in this part of the region are limited compared to the Seattle / Eastside private-school markets — the two pieces families typically weigh are Catholic K-8 parish education versus the local public elementary track in Highline, Federal Way, or Kent districts.
Student-teacher ratio runs around 22:1, in line with Seattle archdiocesan parish norms but well above the 8-12:1 ratios at secular K-8 independents. The school's draw is parish continuity and the Catholic-high-school feeder pipeline, with most graduates routing into Kennedy Catholic in Burien rather than the Seattle Catholic high schools further north. Tuition sits below archdiocesan north-end peers, consistent with the regional cost structure.
Open this school on the live map