Guide to Private Schools in Madison, WI

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.

Do you believe in heroes? Do you believe character still matters? Do you believe that learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be are more important than tests alone? Do you yearn for your child to find a calling and not just a career?

Then Acton Academy Madison West may be right for you and your family.

Described as a “one-room schoolhouse for the 21st century,” Acton Academy Madison West provides a learner-driven education incorporating Montessori principles using mixed-age classrooms (studios) and allowing learners to move freely about the classroom, in addition to 21st century e-learning tools, immersive real-world projects (quests) and adherence to the Socratic method. Our learners don’t just memorize facts; they learn how to learn, learn how to do, and learn how to be.

Our heroes (our name for students) are independent learners who find great joy in learning in a tight-knit community that upholds the highest standards of excellence.

Acton Academy Madison West was founded in 2022 by local parents, like you, who wanted their child to experience the joy of learning and to love going to school. Acton Academy Madison West is an affiliate of Acton Academy, founded in Austin in 2009.

Grades: Elementary

Financial Aid Available: Yes

We focus on the core academic skills of reading, writing and math, as well as practical life skills. Our learners participate in hands-on, collaborative projects with their peers. We are building a STEAM-based makerspace and our heroes enjoy art, music, physical education, and outdoor teaching garden. We are located near the UW Arboretum and wooded Nakoma Park for physical play and scientific exploration. We regularly invite local leaders to share expertise related to in-class projects, as well as stories of their own hero’s journey – successes and failures – that brought them to where they are today.

Heroes engage in “Quests.” Quests are real-world projects where young learners apply their problem solving and project management skills to discover and build new products, services and experiences. At the end of each session, learners showcase their journey through each of the Quests.

Hickory Hill Academy (HHA), formerly Kids Express Learning Center, is the only independent, private school in Dane County serving children as infants through 6th 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 – 6th 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.

Madison Community Montessori School offers an authentic, AMI Montessori education that is an aid to life. Here, your child’s curiosity and independence is nurtured, and through purposeful, hands-on work they become self-directed, lifelong learners.

Our specially-trained teachers build relationships of familiarity, trust, and mutual respect through their work with each child, ideally over multiple years in our multi-age classrooms. Through careful observation, children are offered lessons that will spark interest and provide increasing challenge as they demonstrate mastery over their material. Each classroom creates its own community with shared memories, jokes, stories, struggles, and celebrations.

These communities learn from and alongside one another about our interconnected world, where math, science, and language are not separate subjects, but concepts taught and infused with history, culture, music, art, geography and more. Academic skills are strengthened alongside life skills as children learn to manage their time, plan student trips, and take care of each other and the plants and animals within their community.

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 instruction in Art, Fitness & Wellness, and Spanish for grades 1-8.

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. 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 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

High Point Christian School develops students who are committed disciples of Jesus Christ through an excellent, comprehensive, Biblically integrated educational program. 

We integrate the Bible into all aspects of the educational program and extracurricular activities. We are committed to staff teachers who are of the highest caliber both professionally and spiritually, and our staff take advantage of professional development opportunities. We are committed to using Biblically-integrated curriculum which exceeds national and state standards.

Grades: K – 8th

Financial Aid Available: Yes

Other Programming Available: We offer special instruction in art, music, library, and physical education for all of our students, as well as instruction in Spanish and Computers.

Starting in middle school, our Madison students may choose options including: Stage, Organized Sports, Digital Photography, Woodworking, and Band, and sports such as: basketball, volleyball, flag football, track, cross country, and softball.

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.

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 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.

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.

Wingra School is an independent, progressive school serving ages 5-14 in central Madison, WI. At Wingra, we honor and emphasize the process of learning and create an environment in which children’s strengths and unique ways of learning are supported.

Our progressive educators are highly knowledgeable about child development and work to address the trends and challenges of modern childhood. With inquiry at the heart of our curriculum, we teach children to be thinkers, challengers, and wonderers.

Centering Justice, Equity, and Inclusion, our multi-aged classrooms, integrated thematic units, and child-centered practices create an environment where every student is welcome and has a chance to learn to be an agent in their own education and advocate for justice in the world.

Wingra is fortunate to be located across from the UW Arboretum, overlooking Lake Wingra, and on the Madison Metropolitan bus route and Southwest Commuter bike path. We take full advantage of our location with regular hikes and field trips throughout the year!

In the beginning of 2022 we announced our Tuition Equity & Accessibility Model (TEAM) which provides every family with an individual tuition rate. With TEAM, we all give OUR 100%.

Grades: Kindergarten – 8th

Financial Aid Available: Yes

Other Programming Available: We offer an expansive curriculum including weekly classes at all levels in Art, Music, Wellness, Spanish, and Technology. We also offer Rock Band, Choir, and an all school class choice time during the week.