About LWGMS

Home

About

Community

Curriculum

Mission Statement

Lake Washington Girls Middle School prepares girls to be confident young women, strong in mind, body and voice. Our school values diversity and promotes personal and social responsibility. Students, teachers and families are active partners in creating a challenging academic environment, fostering independent thinking and instilling a life long love of learning.

About LWGMS

Lake Washington Girls Middle School was conceived in 1995, when a group of parents acted upon a unique vision to form a middle school for early adolescent girls. Committed to providing a positive and challenging learning environment that fosters self-esteem, respect, and responsibility, LWGMS opened its doors in 1998 as the first secular girls middle school in Seattle.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School:

is governed by a family and community board
has one class per grade, with class sizes of approximately 16 students

relies on volunteers
has a 1:1 student to computer ratio
has an 6:1 student to teacher ratio
keeps tuition as low as possible (approximately half of other local independent schools)
provides financial aid to approximately 30% of our students
has alumnae at top-ranked public and private high schools and colleges
has sports teams, a drama program, a student council, a mock trial team, and after-school programs
celebrates the diversity of its student body, staff, and curriculum.

LWGMS is a grassroots response to a community-identified need and it has proven to be a school that is exciting to students, teachers and parents. Our curriculum is a challenging, integrated program designed to educate the whole girl: intellectually, socially, and emotionally. Our teachers are committed to teaching with culturally responsive principles, providing our students with multiple perspectives, and encouraging the girls to form and articulate their own opinions.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School students take responsibility for their learning and for their environment through having a voice in curriculum and board meetings and through cleaning and improving their school building. The school is governed by a 12-member board of directors. Staff and student representatives attend board meetings and their participation is viewed as critical to the work of the board.

LWGMS carries out its mission of providing educational opportunity for economically diverse girls by keeping tuition at a moderate level — about half of other Seattle private middle schools — and providing tuition assistance to those girls most in need.

At LWGMS, we believe:

All students can learn.
All students benefit from high expectations.
Material should be relevant to students’ lives.
Students should have a say in what and how they learn.
Students should understand their own learning styles.
Families and the community are valuable assets to the curriculum.
We all can learn from each other.
Social and emotional learning should be part of a middle school education.
Effective collaboration and communication are necessary skills.

Diversity

Lake Washington Girls Middle School believes that a diverse school community is essential to learning. At LWGMS, students and staff from different racial, ethnic,

religious, and economic backgrounds and family configurations learn from and with each other. Our curriculum encourages students to view the world from multiple perspectives, is designed to use multicultural resources, and provides diverse learning opportunities. LWGMS students develop a positive regard for differences and learn to be active citizens who use their voices to affect change. The thoughts and ideas of the girls and their families are essential to the learning experience at LWGMS; the voices of all members of our community are valued.

Education in a Girls-only Environment

The education the girls receive at LWGMS is not just academically excellent, but it is one consciously designed to send the girls into the world with skills that will enable them to be strong in mind, body and voice. The girls learn the art of speaking out through debates, drama and school meetings; they learn collaboration through frequent group projects; they learn physical confidence and de-escalation skills through self-defense and martial arts training. LWGMS prepares girls to resist stereotyping, to excel academically, and to exercise their voices. LWGMS's graduates leave the school academically strong, self-assured and articulate. Most of the graduates go on to large, public high schools, make a smooth transition and are highly capable high school students, which is consistent with the summary of research cited in "Why Girls Schools? The Difference in Girl-Centered Education," Fordham Urban Law Journal, volume XXIX, 2001. The authors of that article concluded that "girls schools instruct and inspire girls to focus on their long-term educational, personal, and professional goals by providing rigorous standards, high expectations, accountability and positive role modeling. The girls school environment affirms and encourages young women in their capacities as confident individuals, leaders, and agents of social change."

The Story of the School Name

Read the Q&A about our school name, our nickname, and the sports team name.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School

810 18th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 709-3800

email lwgms