Daycare, pre-K, language schools, and school pathways

CISC's Mandarin-English bilingual preschool in the Chinatown-International District prepares ages 3 and 4 in a bilingual, bicultural environment through Seattle Preschool Program partnership. Enrollment is managed by CISC (contact Mabel Kwong), not by a central lottery dump.

City site details have listed Monday through Friday about 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., two classrooms, and no extended day. That six-hour window is the planning constraint if you need wraparound care.

Tour the Lane Street area and ask how the language model works day to day. If you need aftercare, stack another plan rather than assuming SPP hours stretch.

Hoa Mai is a Vietnamese-English preschool in Mount Baker (Artspace / Mt. Baker Lofts, near light rail) and a Seattle Preschool Program site. Instruction runs in both languages in a play-based, culturally affirming classroom, and many teachers are bilingual.

SPP ages are 3 to 5, five days a week. The FAQ currently lists an 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. day, Vietnamese dishes in the meal rotation, and a Hoa Mai monthly charge of $508 plus income-based SPP tuition paid to the city. Toddlers (about 20 to 36 months) have a separate day-count pricing track.

Non-Vietnamese families are welcome. Apply through Hoa Mai / SPP channels for the term you need, and ask about subsidy options (City CCAP, DCYF) if tuition is the blocker.

José Martí at Beacon Pacific Village is El Centro de la Raza's English-Spanish early learning site on Beacon Hill for toddlers through pre-K (about 15 months to 5). The bilingual, bicultural classroom model is the point, not a sprinkle of Spanish songs.

This is also the JMCDC location that offers Seattle Preschool Program and ECEAP routes alongside full-day care, which matters if you need both language continuity and a subsidy path. Hours are published around 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with meals included through the USDA program.

Join the waitlist early. Staff note most waits are a year or more, with some enrollment priorities for siblings, El Centro families, building residents, and subsidy-eligible households. Confirm current rates on the Beacon Pacific Village rates page before you budget.

Seattle Japanese Language School youth classes at the Japanese Cultural & Community Center (1414 S Weller St) meet Saturdays 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 6 to 18. Students learn hiragana, katakana, some kanji, conversation, and culture, with classes capped around 10 and split by age and proficiency.

The school year runs two semesters (roughly September to January, then February to June). Published tuition for 2026-27 is about $485 per student per semester, with family discounts for two or three siblings. Younger classes lean into crafts and seasonal celebrations; Novice tracks use Adventures in Japanese materials.

New-student registration windows open about two months before each semester (first-semester registration was set to open July 15 at 10 a.m. PT). Street parking and alley drop-off notes are on the page.

Seattle Public Schools Dual Language Immersion runs in Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin starting at five international elementary schools: Concord, Beacon Hill, Dearborn Park, John Stanford, and McDonald. John Stanford and McDonald are option schools; the others are neighborhood schools with open-enrollment requests subject to space.

The pathway idea is the real planning tool. Elementary DLI can continue through named middle and high schools (for example Hamilton to Lincoln, Mercer to Rainier Beach, Denny to Chief Sealth). Living outside a pathway attendance area often means filing a school-choice form even when placement is guaranteed for pathway students.

Start with Enrollment Services and the International Education FAQ before you fall in love with one elementary brand. Kindergarten entry is competitive; later grades sometimes open seats for stronger partner-language speakers.

Asia Pacific Language School in Bellevue builds Chinese or Japanese from preschool age (about 2.5) through dual-language kindergarten, first grade, after-school, and Saturday classes on the same campus at 14042 NE 8th Street.

Sunflower Camp covers ages 2.5 to 5 in summer language and culture weeks, with half-day and full-day options published for 2026. APLS describes its learning center as licensed childcare and its private school as OSPI-accredited, which is useful context when you compare sites.

Call for a tour (425-747-4172 or 425-641-1703) and match the track (Chinese vs Japanese) to the long game you want, not just the first summer week.

Bellevue School District packs a lot of language choice into one public system: Spanish and Mandarin dual-language programs, plus Arabic, Korean, Japanese, and Hindi pathways that do not all work the same way. Hindi, for example, has been framed as a heritage-language offering rather than full DLI.

Initial seats commonly run through the district choice-program application, and timing windows close. If you missed kindergarten or sixth-grade choice, check waitlist and transfer routes on the current placement page instead of assuming a walk-up seat.

Use the Welcome Center when you are new to Bellevue and comparing neighborhood placement against these programs. Bring your child's language background and grade, then ask which application actually applies this year.

Bellevue School District's Welcome Center is the clearest first stop for new families figuring out programs, enrollment, and language access. Staff help you understand district options and complete paperwork without guessing which portal matters.

Published location is 12011 NE 1st Street, Bellevue, with weekday hours about 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Language Access oversight sits here, which helps if forms and meetings need interpretation.

Come when you are comparing neighborhood schools against choice and language pathways. A short visit can save you from applying to the wrong program on the wrong calendar.

Gurukul Indian Language School runs Sunday heritage classes in Bellevue: written and spoken Hindi at Interlake High School, with Marathi and Kannada at Odle Middle School. It is language instruction plus Indian cultural education, not a drop-in culture fair.

Volunteer-run programming usually includes annual student performances, which helps kids stay motivated across a school year. Confirm the current Sunday schedule and level placement on the Gurukul site / FAQ before you promise a routine to your household.

If your family is splitting languages across relatives (Hindi at home, Kannada with grandparents), ask how mixed-proficiency kids are placed so Saturday energy is not wasted in the wrong room.

Sponge Language Summer Camps run immersive Spanish, Mandarin, French, or Japanese for pre-K through third grade, with Seattle and Bellevue locations across a June 22 to August 21, 2026 season. Full-day and half-day options help working parents stack weeks.

Themes tie language practice to food, stories, celebrations, art, and games rather than workbook-only drills. Pick the language your child will actually continue into after-school or Saturday programs if you can.

Tuition and remaining seats live in the registration flow. Check proficiency grouping when you book so a true beginner is not lost in a chatty room.

Highline's dual-language elementary map is mostly Spanish 50/50 across Hazel Valley, Hilltop, Madrona, Midway, Mount View, and White Center Heights. White Center Heights also offers Vietnamese-English dual language, plus a separate English-with-Somali-enrichment track that is not the same as DLI.

Students assigned to a dual-language school can be automatically enrolled when the grade offers it. Families can also request English-only at a partner school or opt into dual language through the published transfer / ParentVUE steps.

Secondary continuation includes Vietnamese-English at Cascade Middle and Evergreen High, with Spanish continuing at several secondary sites. Call Language Learning (206-631-3035) if you are entering after kindergarten or first grade and need a consultation.

Korean School of Federal Way is an independent nonprofit Saturday school teaching Korean language, culture, and history from pre-K (age 4+) through adult levels. Classes meet at TAF@Saghalie for about 15 weeks a semester, Saturdays roughly 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Fall and spring semesters bookend the school year (about September to January, then February to June). The school is open to heritage learners and anyone interested in Korean, not only Korean-speaking households.

Watch the registration portal for 2026-27 dates and level placement. Bring questions about textbooks, snacks, and which class matches your child's speaking comfort.

Tukwila School District Community and Family Liaisons help families representing more than 80 languages get translation support and understand school customs and processes. This is navigation help, not only document translation.

The district publishes direct routes for Burmese (including Karen and Thai support contacts), Nepali, Somali, and Spanish. Liaison schedules rotate across Cascade View, Foster, Tukwila, Showalter, and Thorndyke during the week.

Call or message when enrollment, conferences, or discipline conversations feel opaque. Bring the school name and what decision is coming up so the right liaison can meet you there.

Everett Public Schools Spanish dual language sits at Emerson and Silver Lake elementary schools. Subjects are taught in both languages, with goals around bilingualism, biliteracy, achievement, and cross-cultural understanding.

For 2026-27 the district is updating language allocations in grades 1 through 4 while staying aligned with a 90/10-style progression (kindergarten stays 90/10; upper grades move toward more English earlier). Read the allocation chart before you assume last year's percentages.

Enrollment is a choice-program lottery, not a casual transfer. Start on the dual-language / choice pages and watch deadlines if kindergarten is your entry year.

Mill Creek Chinese School serves Snohomish County families with 2026-27 registration open and beginner classes meeting in person at Heatherwood Middle School (1419 Trillium Blvd SE area). Other levels have been online under host-district public-access rules, so format can differ by class.

Confirm ages, tuition, and exact meeting times during registration. The public homepage is clearer about format than about the fine print, and you need both.

If in-person beginner seats are what you want, ask early which levels are still room-based versus Zoom. Hybrid programs change when district building access changes.

PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment) is a Tacoma-based statewide Parent Training and Information center for Washington families navigating disability-related education services from birth through age 26. Think evaluations, IEP or Section 504 meeting prep, rights information, and peer support.

Pierce County Parent to Parent adds local mentorship and one-to-one parent matching when you want someone who has walked a similar school path. Support, training, and articles are the core offer, not a law firm.

Reach out when the school meeting email already feels loaded. Bring your questions early rather than waiting until a disagreement hardens.

Puyallup offers free Spanish-English dual-language immersion for elementary students (Karshner and Dessie F. Evans, with junior-high continuation starting at Aylen) plus an ASL dual-language pathway at Zeiger Elementary that also includes Deaf culture.

Spanish classrooms mix English speakers, Spanish speakers, and bilingual peers by design. ASL dual language is described for Deaf or hard-of-hearing students, Deaf family members, people connected to the Deaf community, and interested learners, with grade expansion published by year.

Registration routes differ by program and grade. Use the district dual-language page and the school-specific enrollment links for the year you need rather than recycling a friend's old form.

Tacoma's voluntary Spanish-English dual-language program teaches listening, speaking, reading, and writing in both languages while aiming at grade-level standards. Elementary sites include Blix and Sheridan, with secondary offerings only when a cohort can hit at least about 25 students with language balance.

Enrollment targets roughly half English-identified and half Spanish-identified students based on the Home Language Survey. That balance is part of program design, so ask how your child's survey data affects placement.

Transportation is not provided outside the school's boundary. Use the address look-up tool, then talk with ELL / dual-language staff about elementary entry and any secondary continuation odds.