Primerly field report

Swallowtail Waldorf School & Farm

a tuition-free private school in Cornelius

PK–8 · Private · Waldorf

460 S. Heather St, Cornelius · Margaret Mansker, Director

Swallowtail is a PreK–8 Waldorf school with 2 campuses: a 6-acre main campus in Cornelius and a 26-acre farm campus in Hillsboro. Grades 1–8 each have their own class teacher, and the school describes students staying with the same teacher year over year. Mornings center on main lesson blocks recorded in student-made main lesson books, with form drawing, painting, clay, and class plays woven through academics.

Specialty teachers cover handwork, Spanish, music, middle school math (3 days a week), and agricultural arts. Handwork runs from knitting in grade 1 to machine-sewn pajamas and a class quilt in middle school, with woodworking and soapstone carving often added. Music moves from pentatonic and C flute to recorder ensembles and a middle school choir; eurythmy blocks run in winter when farm days pause.

In fall and spring each class spends 1 day a week at the farm, harvesting and cooking, caring for goats, journaling observations, and building projects like a physics trebuchet. There are no standardized tests or letter grades, and no homework through grade 2.

Tuition: $0 (Native Reconciliation Program) - $17,850 (2026-27 range)

Address: Main Campus: 460 S. Heather St, Cornelius, OR 97113. Farm Campus: 31620 NW Camp Ireland St, Hillsboro, OR 97124.. Phone: 503-846-0336. Website: swallowtailschool.org.

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PPS rightsizing · a proposal, not a decision

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The basics

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Your odds in the lottery

Seats here aren’t first-come; they’re drawn by lottery. Each circle below is a tenth of the families who applied over the last two springs and stayed in the running (didn’t take a higher-ranked school). Filled circles got a yes.

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Official PPS lottery results, 2025-26 & 2026-27 combined: offers made ÷ families still in the running (offered + waitlisted); applications cancelled for a higher-ranked school excluded. pps.net › prior transfer data. Slots reset every year.
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