Admissions

Join Our Community

Thank you for your interest in Black Pine Circle School. We look forward to introducing you to our community. Our goal is to partner with your family and provide support throughout the admissions process.

Our admissions process begins in the fall prior to the planned year of attendance.  To begin the admissions process, please submit an inquiry.

While the best way to learn more about our school is to visit us in person, you can start your tour with the interactive campus map and find helpful information throughout our website.

If you have any questions about the admissions process, please feel free to get in touch with us. We look forward to getting to know you and your family.

Warmly,
Greta B. Wong & Lydia Chow

admissions@blackpinecircle.org

Visit Black Pine Circle School

Please click below to submit an inquiry so you can sign up for one or more visits. In the meantime, we invite you to explore our website and learn more about our school.

Interactive Campus Map

Touch/click map areas to learn about our campus where every day our teachers weave together arts, academics, and social & emotional learning.

Campus Map with Map Key Letters
(A) Athena Building (B) The Q Lab: A Space for Science & Inquiry (C) Upper School Yard (D) Facility for Arts & Drama (FAD) (E) Upper School Art Studio (F) Climbing Wall (G) Garden & Outdoor Cafeteria (H) Addison Administration Building (I) Athletic Field (J) Music Studio & Performing Space (K) Kindergarten & First Grade Classrooms (L) Lower School Art Studio (M) Second & Third Grade Classrooms (N) Lower School Yard (O) The Oasis (P) Library Deck (Q) Lower School Garden (R) Fourth & Fifth Grade Classrooms (S) Library (T) Play Structure Map Key

(A) Athena Building

athena building

Houses English, Math, History, and Spanish classrooms, the upper school office, and social spaces.

Through regular inquiry, our students develop deep understanding and exceptional critical-thinking skills. Through differentiation, we are able to understand the strengths and challenges of each student, discerning where and how they can grow both academically and emotionally. Through this partnership, students feel safe taking risks and practicing intellectual generosity.

(B) The Q Lab: A Space for Science & Inquiry

Features include a fully-equipped maker space on the first floor and a traditional life sciences classroom on the second floor.

Our teachers create classroom environments where questions and strategies for understanding outweigh facts and answers. We cultivate our students’ natural curiosity, encouraging them to make careful observations, to ask thoughtful questions, and to make connections in their world. Students leverage their own developmental maturation with an intellectual and emotional growth that comes from being part of a safe, caring, and intelligent community of learners.

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(C) Upper School Yard

Upper School Yard

Used for physical education classes and at recess for all manner of games including basketball, volleyball, and tetherball.

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(D) Facility for Arts & Drama (FAD)

The FAD

Both a classroom for drama and music and a rehearsal and performance space for the BPC bands and orchestra. Student Town Hall meetings and Parent Education Events are also held here. We provide opportunities for students to discover and explore their own creative strengths through following a variety of paths of self-expression.

Our exceptional arts program is just one way that our students learn confidence, collaboration, and communication skills. By graduation, they have developed individual passions and have learned how to share that love with their communities. Students pursue mastery in the arts, in math, in our award-winning maker program, and in countless other areas that prepare them to enter high school with academic confidence and intellectual enthusiasm.

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(E) Upper School Art Studio

Upper School Art Studio

Light-filled studio for 6-8 grade art classes. Our program is designed to create a safe space in which students are encouraged to explore, create, and experiment while learning how to communicate and collaborate effectively.

There are many opportunities for self-expression. Our exceptional arts program is just one of the many paths our students follow to discover and explore their own creative strengths.

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(F) Climbing Wall

climbing wall

Used during physical education classes by all grades.

(G) Garden & Outdoor Cafeteria

garden and outdoor cafeteria

A range of multi-use spaces for recess, hot lunch, classes held outdoors, tending the chicken coop, and playing foosball.

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(H) Addison Administration Building

Addison Admin Entrance

Home to Black Pine Circle’s administrative team and head of school, this space allows our staff to collaborate while working in partnership with our families. Our experienced group of administrators share a commitment to BPC’s mission and core values of curiosity, community, inquiry, and voice.

(I) Athletic Field

Addison field

Used by all grades, K-8, for physical education classes and at recess for soccer and dodgeball games.

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(J) Music Studio & Performing Space

A multi-purpose room where Performances of Understanding come to life, K-3 music fills the air, and our K-5 community comes together for Monday’s Community Gathering.

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(K) Kindergarten & First Grade Classrooms

Enrolling in a K–8 school provides wonderful opportunities for students to expand their sense of family and feel connected to a variety of students of different ages, ethnicities, cultures, family structures, and personalities. In the Black Pine Circle School community, students learn to engage with diverse viewpoints from a place of humility and self-reflection. Cultivating empathy and active listening supports academic as well as social and emotional growth.

All facets of school life reflect our understanding that we are one interconnected family, and we succeed together. In a community that sees and values each individual, students build connections that last a lifetime. Academic excellence comes naturally to students who feel a sense of belonging in a joyful, safe, and engaging learning community.

(L) Lower School Art Studio

Painting, sculpting, and creating take place in this beautifully lit studio for K-5 art classes. Our program is designed to create a safe space in which students are encouraged to explore, create, and experiment while learning how to communicate and collaborate effectively.

There are many opportunities for self-expression. Our exceptional arts program is just one of the many paths our students follow to discover and explore their own creative strengths.

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(M) Second & Third Grade Classrooms

We nurture innate curiosity: Our most essential duty as educators is to protect, nurture, and inspire the curiosity that is inherent in young children. We do this by encouraging them to make careful observations, to ask thoughtful questions, and to make connections to their world.

Differentiated learning and Responsive Classroom practices are elements of this environment where a child’s natural drive to ask more and better questions is refined with the guidance of expert teachers who support and enhance each student’s sense of wonder. Curiosity and the willingness to try, fail,   and learn from mistakes is viewed as an essential starting point for learning.

(N) Lower School Yard

LS Yard 2

Used for physical education classes and at recess for all manner of games including basketball, four square, kickball, and soccer. Lunch is eaten outside on picnic tables (weather permitting).

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(O) The Oasis

lower school oasis

Includes a sandbox, turf area, and outdoor activity tables for kindergarten & 1st grade students. The Oasis is enjoyed by all of the lower school students.

(P) Library Deck

Lower School Library Deck

A sunny spot where children in aftercare eat their snack under market umbrellas.

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(Q) Lower School Garden

Lower School Garden

Where students have lower school garden class and grow fruits and vegetables.

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(R) Fourth & Fifth Grade Classrooms

What is Socratic Learning? As students analyze works together—such as books, paintings, songs, historical artifacts, or mathematical formulae—they improve their close reading, critical thinking, and oral communication skills. Because they are in a conversation, they practice civility and listen to diverse points of view. Even the kindergarten class engages in a way that acknowledges the richness of questions instead of quickly answering them.

As a facilitator and co-learner, teachers model genuine curiosity, ask clarifying questions, keep the discussion focused on the text, and ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate. A learning environment like this, in which scholarly conversation is central to the culture, nurtures both the intellectual as well as the social and emotional life of the child.

(S) Library

Library 2

Multi-purpose room with 6,000 volumes used for library lessons, author visits, Spanish classes, strings lessons, and Extended Daycare. Evening meetings and events are held here too.

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(T) Play Structure

Lower School Play Structure

A popular spot at recess and also where many parents linger after dismissal.

Map Key

UPPER SCHOOL
(A) Athena Building
(B) Q-Lab: A Space for
Science & Inquiry
(C) Yard
(D) Facility for Arts
& Drama (FAD)
(E) Art Studio
(G) Garden & Cafeteria

ALL
(F) Climbing Wall
(H) Addison Administration
Building
(I) Athletic Field
(P) Library Deck
(S) Library

LOWER SCHOOL
(J) Music Studio &
Performing Space
(K) Classrooms
- Grades K & 1
(L) Art Studio
(M) Classrooms
- Grades 2 & 3
(N) School Yard
(O) Oasis
(Q) Garden
(R) Classrooms
- Grades 4 & 5
(T) Play Structure

Admissions Timeline

APPLY
by January 18

All Applications are due no later than Thursday, January 18, 2024. Use the Application Checklist for your grade (below) to help you organize your application process.

Transcripts and recommendations are due no later than Friday, February 16, 2024.

After you submit your application, you will be contacted by admissions to schedule a student visit in January-February.

DECISION
by March 14

Decision will be posted in Ravenna, and a separate email with an enrollment agreement and financial award will be sent on Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 12:00 pm.

 

ENROLL
by March 21

Families who choose to enroll must complete and submit the enrollment agreement and tuition deposit no later than 10:00 am on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

You can check your application status in your Ravenna account.

first graders in circle / high five

Tuition

2024 - 2025 School Year

$34,700 Grades K-5
$40,200 Grades 6-8

Tuition Payment Plans

Pay annual tuition in full by May 15 - or - nine monthly payments (July-April) with mandatory tuition insurance fee (1% of tuition, invoiced in October)

Flexible Tuition

Black Pine Circle School's flexible tuition program is designed to make a BPC education possible for all families based on demonstrated financial need and the availability of funds. Annually, our school awards more than $1,500,000. In past years, awards ranged from 5% to 70% of the annual tuition. School fees for extracurricular activities, field trips, and extended day program will be subsidized at approximately the same level as the flexible tuition.

Apply through Clarity
Simply use the dropdown menu in the application to select those schools. The application is mobile-friendly so you can complete it from anywhere. You are also able to save your progress and return at any time. 

The deadline for completing the Clarity application including relevant supplemental documents is

  • Thursday, January 4, 2024 for returning and sibling families
  • Thursday, January 18, 2024 for new families

If you need support during the process of completing your application, there is in-app support available through the “Help” button in the bottom left of the screen, as well as email and phone support at support@clarityapp.com or 206-210-3752, in both English and Spanish. The application itself is also fully translated into Spanish.

On November 16, 2023, BPC will host a meeting for families to learn more about the program. For questions related to flexible tuition, please contact Bill Shea, chief financial and operating officer: (510) 529-2736 or by email

Application Checklist

Select your the grade in the tabs below:

Kindergarten

Kindergarten Application Checklist


By January 18

  • Online Application

  • Minimum Age

    We accept kindergarten applications for children who will be turning five years of age by September 1, 2024.

  • Application Fee

    Submit your application no later than Thursday, January 18, 2024 with non-refundable application fee of $95. 

By January 30

  • Recommendation

    Teacher recommendations are submitted through Ravenna.

    One preschool teacher recommendation form is required.  Send the teacher recommendation link to your child's current preschool teacher/delegate.

    We need to receive the teacher recommendation no later than January 30, 2024.

January-February

  • Student Visit on Sunday, January 28, 2024 

After you submit your application you will be able to schedule the student visit in Ravenna.

Grades 1-5

Grades 1-5 Application Checklist


By January 18

  • Online Application

  • Application Fee

    Submit your application no later than Thursday, January 18, 2024 with non-refundable application fee of $95. 

By February 16

Recommendations

Teacher recommendations are submitted through Ravenna.

  • Two teacher recommendations are required. Please have the grade 1-5 teacher recommendation page completed by both your child's current teacher/delegate and the teacher/delegate from last year.
  • Transcripts/Report Cards

    Current school year AND previous two school years. Documents are submitted through Ravenna, under Additional Steps in the student's application.

    We need to receive all teacher recommendations and report cards/transcripts no later than February 16, 2024 (and ideally before your student visit).

January-February

  • Student Visit - two parts (for incoming grades 3-5)

After you submit your application you will be able to schedule the student visit (for incoming grades 1-5) in Ravenna.

Grade 6

Grade 6 Application Checklist


By January 18

  • Online Application

  • Student Questionnaire

    This portion of the application must be completed by the student.

  • Application Fee

    Submit your application no later than Thursday, January 18, 2024 with non-refundable application fee of $95. 

By February 17

  • Recommendations

    Teacher recommendations are submitted through Ravenna.

    Two teacher recommendations are required. Please have the teacher recommendation page completed by both your child's current teacher/delegate and the teacher/delegate from last year.

  • Transcripts/Report Cards

    Current school year AND previous two school years. Documents are submitted through Ravenna, under Additional Steps in the student's application.

    We need to receive all teacher recommendations and report cards/transcripts no later than February 16, 2024 (and ideally before your student visit).

February 

  • Student Visit 

    Visit sessions occur in small group format on Saturdays and include a math, reading, and writing assessment. After you submit your application you will be asked to sign up in Ravenna for one of the sessions offered on Saturday, January 20, 2024 and Saturday, February 3, 2024.

Grades 7-8

Grades 7 & 8 Application Checklist


By January 18

  • Online Application

  • Student Questionnaire

    This portion of the application must be completed by the student.

  • Application Fee

    Submit your application no later than Thursday, January 18, 2024 with non-refundable application fee of $95. 

By February 16

  • Recommendations

    Teacher recommendations are submitted through Ravenna.

    Two teacher recommendations are required. Please have the teacher recommendation page completed by both your child's current teacher/delegate and the teacher/delegate from last year.

  • Transcripts/Report Cards

    Current school year AND previous two school years. Documents are submitted through Ravenna, under Additional Steps in the student's application.

    We need to receive all teacher recommendations and report cards/transcripts no later than February 16, 2024 (and ideally before your student visit).

January-February

  • Student Visit - morning on campus visits 

    Student will visit classes of their current grade level for the morning, and meet with admissions staff for a math and writing assessment either during or before the visit.

After you submit your application you will be able to schedule the student visit in Ravenna.

Frequently Asked Questions