FAQ - New Schools
Last Edited 1/30/2025
For a big project like this, there are going to be tons of questions. While we don’t have all of the answers right now, below are some common questions and the best information we have at this time. If you have specific questions which are not answered here, please send us a note at info@birchtreeacademy.com.
When will the new school open?
Not soon enough! We estimate the new school will be open in approximately 15 months. Currently, the landlord is in the process of getting permits to put up the building structure. Once that portion is complete, we can begin building out the interior of the school. With any construction process, especially one where we have no control, assume that there will be some unforeseen delays.
Update: We expect the school to open in the October/November timeframe
Update 2: The school will Open November 11th
Update 3: Canyon Park is now open for full time care. We estimate that Woodinville will be open for part time care in May and full time care sometime between June and July.
Where will the school be located?
Check out the location pages for the specific address of each school (Canyon Park, Woodinville). We are very picky about our locations and they are all in great areas. The Canyon Park school is in the Lakeside shopping center in the Canyon Park area, close to Bothell, Mill Creek and Kenmore among others. There are also many great shops there but personally, we are most excited about Woods Coffee, Carolina Smoke BBQ and Safeway.
The Woodinville school is located in the heart of downtown Woodinville, close to the freeway, the main shopping district and more.
What should I do if I am interested in enrolling my child?
Click the link below and get on the New School interest list or request a tour. This will save your spot in line and will also help us to keep you up to date and involved in the process. While we can give tours for schools that dont exist yet, we will send occasional updates on the build.
Update: Invitations to enroll will be sent out starting the week of 2/26. Signups received after that date may not make it in the pre-opening signup phase
Update 2: All pre-opening enrollment activity it complete. Once the school is open in November, we will begin offering tours and enrolling for any open spots
Update 3: Invitations to Enroll for Woodinville in March 2025.
What ages will you accept?
We welcome children ages 4 months to 5 years old.
Who will be the director of Canyon Park?
We’re excited to announce that Cassandra Gallegos will be the director of the Canyon Park school. Cassie has worked her way up through Birch Tree Academy, starting as a teacher at our Lake Hills school before becoming assistant director and then Director at our Bothell school. She will be join by Olivya Mariucci as Assistant Director who also was a teacher at our Lake Hills school before moving to her new role.
Will it be just like our other schools?
Every school is a bit unique (by design!), but all of the Birch Tree locations have a very similar experience: STEM curriculum, delicious food, and incredible teachers! For Canyon Park, the theme of the school is flowers with each classroom being named after a difference variety. The building will of course be beautiful and this school should have the largest playground yet! The Woodinville school theme is ‘bugs’.
How Will Enrollment Work?
We are very fortunate that there has been quite a lot of interest in ours schools and there are a lot of families who have expressed a desire to enroll. To accommodate this, we will open up enrollment in batches, giving each group a week to make a decision on whether they would like to enroll before the next group is invited. Priority will be given to enrolled families and then people who have signed up to be notified (based on the date they signed up).
Invitations to enroll for Woodinville will begin going out in March 2025 and will continue until everyone who has signed up has been notified. We expect the final invites to go out in April so please be patient--we will get to you. In the weeks leading up to when we send out the invites, we will provide more details about how the process will work. Please make sure to check your email as this will be the primary method of notification. As noted above, you can also always check the website for updates but the notification to enroll will come via email.
Update: please see more recent blog posts detailing the enrollment process