Our School

Lower School students begin every day at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Their day ends at 3:20 p.m., and on Friday students are dismissed at 2:30 p.m. Middle School students begin the day at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. Upper School students have advisory check-in at 8:10 a.m.; classes begin at 8:20 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.

We believe that our students learn best when the school works in productive partnership with parents. For this reason, we encourage parents to contact us as soon as they have a concern. Direct, open and timely communication is the surest way to keep a concern or issue from becoming more troubling. In general, we encourage you to:

Contact the faculty or staff member most directly connected to the issue of concern. When this is not possible, we suggest you contact your child's homeroom teacher (Lower School) or advisor (Middle and Upper Schools). Finally, we suggest you contact the appropriate Division Director. In some cases the person you contact first may not be able to help you, but he or she can direct you to someone who can assist you.

We want to be responsive to the concerns and questions of students and parents during and after the school day. Most interactions between parents and students with faculty and staff can take place during the school day. During evening and weekend hours, and when faculty and staff are unavailable during the day, voice or e-mail messages may be left (see faculty and staff directory). Faculty and staff members will make every effort to respond to these messages within 24 hours.

If a parent or student must call a faculty or staff member at home in the evening, we ask that the following guidelines be observed in rder to respect the personal and family lives of our faculty and staff:

Limit the length of evening phone calls. Call in the evening only when the issue needing attention cannot wait until the next day. Call before 8 p.m. unless the issue is an emergency or arrangements have been made for a late evening call.

Lower school students should be picked up at the Extended Day Program classroom before 6:00 p.m. Late fees will be charged for children who remain after 6:00 p.m. For security and safety purposes, each child's parent/guardian/carpool driver is required to sign the student out daily with a signature and time.

Students participating in the Middle School After-School Program should be picked up in Room 1 before 6 p.m. Late fees will be charged for children who remain after 6 p.m. After 5 p.m., if the main lobby doors are locked, you may reach Room 1 by entering through the outside doors by approaching from the pathway outside the Commons Kitchen or by checking in at the Lower School Extended Day Program classroom on Harrison Street. For security and safety purposes, each child's parent/guardian/carpool driver is required to sign the student out daily with a signature and time. You may reach the Middle School After-School Program after 3:30 p.m.by calling Juan at 206-753-7650. You may reach the Extended Day office at 206-326-7759 and/or the LS Extended Day cell phone after 3:20 p.m. at 206-779-2609. Anytime you wish your Middle School student to independently attend a sporting or other event on campus, permission must be given at the Middle School office, Extended Day office, or Juan via cell, 206-753-7650. Students are expected to stay at the event and return directly to the After-School Program to be picked up before 6 p.m.

Upper School students will have varying schedules based upon the activity or sport they are participating in. Parents and children should work out pick-up times and locations. A common and safe location to meet Upper School children following an after-school activity is on Harrison, West of Big Tree (note: the area directly in front of big tree is a no loading zone, please pull forward to the loading zone). Athletes are commonly picked up on Republican outside of the gym.

Most dances and plays are held in Benaroya Theatre, one of the gymnasiums, or the Commons. Evening meetings are usually held in the Commons. Call the school receptionist at (206) 322-7978 before 4:00 p.m. for specific information.

The Bush School does not provide transportation for students. We do, however, make information available to facilitate the creation of carpools. Lists of school families by zip code are available from the Admissions Office, (206) 326-7736.

We provide on-campus parking for Faculty, Staff, and Student carpools. Allocation of our limited on-campus parking to carpools will take place in early September. Only drivers of registered cars will be eligible for on-campus carpool parking.

When possible, send a note in with your child at least one day prior to any absences. The Division Assistant will pass along this information to your child's teachers. If you are unable to send a note, please call the Division Assistant by 8:30 a.m. to excuse your child from school.

Division Assistant names and phone numbers:
Karna Humphrey, Upper School, (206) 326-7734
Victoria Olson, Middle School, (206) 326-7755
Eileen Schiller, Lower School, (206) 326-7738

For parking policies please click here.