The Madison, WI area has some amazing private schools and options for educating your kids, but researching those options can be a bit intimidating. If you’re planning to choose a private or independent school for your children, we hope this list will give you a head-start on finding the best option for your family.
Below you will find a comprehensive list of Madison, WI area private schools – along with schools we have partnered with for features with extra details and highlights.
Please let us know if we’re missing any from the comprehensive section (you can comment below!). And if you are a private school that would like information on being featured – please email: [email protected]
You can also view our Madison, WI Preschool Guide.
Madison, WI Area Private Schools
Hickory Hill Academy
Hickory Hill Academy (HHA), formerly Kids Express Learning Center, is the only independent, private school in Dane County serving children as infants through 5th grade. Located on 10-acre campus, Hickory Hill Academy provides quality education and a summer camp for children up through age 12.
Hickory Hill Academy cultivates children’s growth in a stimulating and compassionate environment. Our supportive teachers engage the curiosities and needs of each child, fostering self-esteem, the confidence needed to benefit from our robust academic programs, and the interest to embark on a journey of lifelong learning. Our focus on empathy, character, and individual well-being encourages our children to envision how they will serve their community beyond the expanse of our campus.
Grades: PreK – 5th grade (up through age 12 for summer camp)
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: We offer unique enrichment programs for children enrolled in our private school, preschool and school-age summer camp. Some of our programs include:
Art – Our art program comes alive with creative energy and excitement as our budding young artists experiment with techniques used by “Master Artists.”
Mandarin + Spanish Instruction
Gardening – Sensory-rich learning flourishes as the children help care for the gardens and watch the smallest seeds sprout, leaf out, and turn into edible treats or colorful flowers.
Farmer Will’s Nature Nook – In Farmer Will’s Nature Nook, a school bus classroom, children engage in hands on experiments and experiences to grasp concepts in physics, chemistry, and more.
PE: Weather permitting, PE lessons are held outdoors in the gardens, lawns and sports court on our campus. If the activities are best served by an indoor environment, two gyms are available for PE lessons.
Music: Bucky Beats is an interactive music experience rooted in percussion, vocal exploration, music reading, exploration of several instruments, and song writing.
Culinary: Our culinary class promotes a lifelong skill of cooking, builds a sense of accomplishment, and encourages children to try new foods.
Edgewater Campus School
Edgewood Campus School is a thriving and progressive Catholic 4K – 8th grade school that offers a well-rounded and rigorous education. We are committed to deepening knowledge, honoring individuality, enhancing personal awareness, fostering strength of character, and building global connections.
We believe that each child has the potential for amazing growth, and they are a precious gift entrusted to us. We believe that the partnership between our school and your family is key to your child’s positive growth and development. Edgewood Campus School is the best choice for your child to discover and develop their greatest potential.
Edgewood Campus School, a private Catholic school for students in 4K, 5K, and grades 1 through 8, admits students of any gender, race, religion, color, and national/ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate based on gender, race, religion, color, or national/ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial-aid programs, athletics, or other school-administered programs.
Grades: 4K + Kindergarten – 8th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: We offer an after-school program, safety patrol, big buddy mentoring programs, boys’ and girls’ choir, 7th & 8th grade musical productions, student talent shows, Math Club, Leadership Council, Scripps Spelling Bee, National GEO Bee, Book Clubs, Brownie Girl Scouts, Band, 1st Act Children’s Theatre, chess classes, guitar lessons, art classes, coding and programing classes and league sports including cross country, volleyball, basketball, and track and field.
Blessed Sacrament School
Blessed Sacrament School serves families and students in 3K – 8th grade. We are known for our multi-age classrooms and programming. We teach to the whole child with an emphasis on community, service as well as academic excellence.
Our Vision: We provide a program of academic excellence within a Catholic environment. A variety of teaching techniques and multi-aged settings enable children to work toward their highest potential, have opportunities to experience success and see learning as a life-long process.
Our Values: Blessed Sacrament School’s core Catholic values are at the center of our school’s philosophy. We believe that strong, positive relationships among home, school and community are essential.
Our Mission: As a ministry of Blessed Sacrament Parish, our school’s mission is to foster discipleship, academic growth, self-confidence, and personal responsibility. Children are taught to respect others through living our Four Pillars and by recognizing and appreciating the similarities and differences among themselves and others.
Grades: PreK – 8th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: We offer an extensive sports program to students in grades 5-8. Our regular curriculum includes Spanish, Music, Art, PE, Tech, Life Skills, Faith Formation and Library. We also offer Band and Strings as well as extracurriculars such as Battle of the Books, Math24 Club, Forensics and more.
Madison Waldorf School
The Waldorf educational philosophy nurtures the whole human, and its pedagogy fosters healthy emotional development by conveying knowledge experientially as well as academically. The belief that education is an uplifting process is central to the Waldorf philosophy.
Young children in our preschool and kindergarten classrooms experience a day rooted in play and wonder, and gentle, predictable rhythms. Our grade school curriculum integrates arts and movement into a rigorous academic education to foster artistic expression, critical thinking, problem solving, athletic judgment, and sound intellectual reasoning.
Our unique story curriculum brings a study of history and civilizations that flows from fairy tales, to fables and then Hebrew scriptures, to Norse mythology, Greek mythology and Ancient Greece, Indian civilization, Ancient Rome, and the revolutionary movements of the early and mid-20th Century.
Grades: PreK – 8th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: Special subject teachers instruct the students in Spanish and German, woodworking, handwork, games/physical education and Pentathlon (for fifth graders). Play block is an important part of the year for each class. In winter, cross-country skiing is part of the curriculum. Classes enjoy several field trips and community outings each year, with overnight camping trips beginning when children reach third grade.
Our school offers a band program in collaboration with the Overture Band Program, and several clubs for elementary-age children, including a running club.
Madison Community Montessori School
Madison Community Montessori School offers an authentic, AMI Montessori education that is an aid to life where your child’s passion and creativity is funneled into meaningful work.
Our teachers have the advantage of working with each child every day over the course of several years, producing a relationship of familiarity, trust, and mutual respect between student and teacher. The teacher knows what sorts of topics will spark interest, what strategies foster confidence, what words inspire extra effort, and ways to provide reassurance for each particular child.
Within an elementary classroom, a group culture of shared memories, jokes, stories, challenges, and celebrations is built hour by hour, day by day.
Community members teach and learn together, weaving math facts with science, writing with geography, reading with history, music with botany, and art with geometry. This open-minded approach enriches their lives, even as they each go on to develop particular aptitudes and interests according to their unique blueprint.
Grades: PreK – 8th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available:
In addition to the rich Montessori curriculum, which includes Botany/Zoology, History, Geography/Science, Language Arts, Math/Geometry and Music, MCMS also offers additional lessons each week in Art, Fitness & Wellness, Spanish and Singing.
MCMS also offers an after school program for elementary children whose parents are looking for care and fun for their child after the 3:15 PM dismissal time. This is complementary to the work of the school day with attention given to the child’s need for physical and creative activities.
Our Lady Queen of Peace School
We are a K4-8th Grade School that believes in teaching the whole child, and providing an engaging foundation for learning, where morals, character, and values are taught and instilled every day.
Grounded in our Catholic faith, QP students gain the skills to become innovative problem solvers, confident learners, and leaders in our community. Our full day 4 year old Kindergarten Program provides a play based and faith filled foundation for academic and social success in the years ahead.
Grades: PreK – 8th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: Queen of Peace offers the following enrichment activities; Athletics (Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Softball, Track & Field), Band, Musical Theatre and Drama, Engineering for Kids, Choir, Math Club, Homework Club, Spirit Squad, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Houses of Faith Leadership, Art Club and Community Service.
Madison Country Day School
Madison Country Day School is Dane County’s only independent, private Pre‑K‑12 school, offering a challenging and comprehensive college‑preparatory education, including the Madison area’s only International Baccalaureate program.
Our mission is grounded in two key beliefs about children and learning:
- Every child possesses an extraordinary capacity to learn.
- Effort is generally more important than ability.
These beliefs drive our decisions, inform our curriculum, and inspire our teaching and learning. They are touchstones to which we return again and again.
Grades: PreK – 12th
Financial Aid Available: Yes
Other Programming Available: We offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities, including: Coding, Mandarin, STEAM Club, Girls on the Run, Martial Arts, Art Club, Bollywood Dance, Guitar Stars, Theater, Chess Club, Cooking Club, Gardening and Knitting
You missed Charis Classical Academy!