Hamilton International Middle School

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

Posted: October 28, 2025

The principal is hostile towards the kids and their parents, instead of focusing on the kids learning and fostering an inclusive environment he goes on crusades to ban backpacks, he punishes kids for having panic attacks, he gets rid of fun things that were brought in to get the kids engaged and playing with each other. He doesn’t respond to parent emails. Does your kid have a 504 plan? You’ll never hear a word from the 504 coordinator, and you have to contact each teacher individually to communicate what your child’s 504 plan entails.

If you have a choice in which school to send your kid to. Don’t choose Hamilton.

Posted: June 13, 2024

We have had a great experience the past year at Hamilton - really great teachers and staff and a strong community!

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: June 13, 2024

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

it is a fancy school, but the curriculum is bad for everything except spanish and math

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: May 9, 2022

Posted: June 7, 2018

By the way, forgot to say, but the HCC classes I've taken were great! Yes, there's a lot of homework and sometimes I don't completely get things, but hey, that's life. You just have to work for it. I tend to get everything done on time and I've only had to get up early... what... 3 times this whole year? Not too shabby.

A lot of kids say a ton of the teachers are trash, but I think it's only one or two that I've consistently heard bad things about. Maybe those kids are whining, or maybe there are more bad teachers out there than I thought.

Oh, yep. The class sizes. Not really a problem after the REMS - HIMS split, although sometimes my classes are pretty packed (HCC LA particularly).

Wow, this is a lOoooOOnnnGGG review... I'll stop before I go off on a tangent.

Posted: June 7, 2018

Posted: June 7, 2018

Posted: June 7, 2018

Posted: June 7, 2018

Yup! I got bullied this year (well sort of, I honestly didn't care but eventually reported it after the antisemitic stuff) and it was resolved quickly and effectively. Apology was sincere.

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Posted: March 25, 2018

Great teachers! Welcoming community. Houses the gifted programs as well as the foreign language programs, so it really has the best resources available for high achieving kids.

Posted: September 27, 2016

Child has not experienced or witnessed any bullying whatsoever. Good to great teachers. Good overall experience.

Posted: September 4, 2015

Have an incoming 6th grader and a student who attended now in 10th grade. The HCC program overall is good and great preparation for AP classes or IBX program in high school. PTA is active at this school and strong. Although it is a large middle school ( like most in Seattle) there have been multiple opportunities for incoming 6th graders to become familiar with the school and an 8th grade buddy/mentor program.

Posted: June 26, 2015

Posted: June 26, 2015

Posted: June 26, 2015

Posted: December 17, 2014

By the stats, we have a %14 suspension rate, one of the district's highest. Overall, it's too competetive! APP program's rigirous, but lots of hw.

Posted: November 6, 2014

Overall, hamilton isn't very good. It's overcrowded, some classes being 36 students or more (for the 2013-14 school year, the class average was 33), and my LA class is 35, my SS 31, my Science 34, as is art...and so on. Overall, most teachers are very unfair-not respecting a student's opinion (e.g., when country-territory is lectured on, a teacher is angry if s/he is argued with). Overall, while some administrator (the House Admin.) are good, it needs improvement. The APP program is good, but is kind-of easy (except for math-up to Geometry in 7th), and science is BORING. It needs improvement...

Posted: September 28, 2014

this school is for smart people. Whitman is trash. salmon bay is recycle. jk it is ok

Posted: April 1, 2014

I am an 8th grader here at HIMS and I hate it. I only like two of my five teachers. The school is nice looking and is full of cool people but there is many reasons I am so happy I get to leave this trap. The main reason is that the APP program gets more field trips, and gets treated with more respect than other learning levels. It is great for them, but for other kids don't get the same pampering. There is many examples but I have to head off to school. -Hamilton Sucks

Posted: February 24, 2014

I am a 6th grade APP student at Hamilton and I don't like it here at all. I only like one of my five teachers. I cannot work well their at all. Both of the 6th grade science teachers this year are bad. I am hoping to transfer schools next year because I dislike it so much. Its a nice looking and well funded school for sure but its not as good education wise for me.

Posted: August 2, 2013

My daughter will attend this school next year. I am interested in knowing more. This site won't let me read reviews until I write something here.

Posted: July 20, 2013

This school is amazing. The APP program is good if you have the right teacher, but the program itself isn't that hard. There isn't much homework and most of the students are only sleep deprived because of texting or playing video games. The student body is great, and they teach you useful skills. I had a great teacher, Mr. Moriarty, who encouraged everyone to work hard. His class was great and I've emerged a changed person. He also taught many skills about essay writing, such as a good essay takes 50 minutes to write, 10 for each paragraph. Mr. Pounder is also an amazing teacher. It's pretty easy overall, the math is really basic and I didn't have to study for anything.

Posted: May 1, 2013

I am a 7th grader in APP at Hamilton. There is a lot to like about it. The teachers are great, the music program is excellent (we beat eckstein in multiple competitions), and the students are very friendly. However, APP is a very difficult program. Students are given very large amounts of homework. Most of the APP students are quite sleep deprived and stressed. To succeed in APP requires serious dedication to homework. On an average day I get at least 3 hours of difficult homework. But the amount of learning that happens is amazing...I have already done algebra 1 and can write a five paragraph essay in 30 minutes. I am also quite knowledgable in history and I am in an advanced band. The skills we learn in APP are essential in real life. Outside of APP, there is much less homework.

Posted: November 4, 2012

Love the school everybody is very devoted at their work kids respect culture and there is no bullying at this school my child loves this school and so do I

Posted: October 13, 2012

So far our experience at Hamilton has been very good. Good communication from teachers, very involved principal, challenging curriculum. In some classes teachers use very innovative teaching methods such as an hands on physical representation of major battles of the Trojan war. Other classes are more standard but very solid. The facilities are exceptional. I would have given an excellent score however I feel that the school is in transition with a new principal and the kinks are still being worked out.Though it is just a matter of time for that to come together. The new principal is fantastic. Overall this is a great inner city school.

Posted: November 27, 2011

We were disappointed with Hamilton. While 3 or 4 of my son's teachers were excellent, 3 or 4 were incompetent, bullies, or both. The principal is more interested in showing that he is in charge than in any educational goals. The science courses were totally inadequate, and the math courses offerings were too limited, in spite of this school being one of the two Advanced Placement sites in the city.

Posted: September 26, 2011

My son is entering his second year at HIMS and I am very pleased with his experiences to date. The teaching quality is excellent (despite a dud of a teacher last year) and the administration is communicative and responsive. We're really quite happy with the program.

Posted: June 2, 2010

I've experienced great responsiveness from the principal and the counselor. My experiences with the teachers are highly variable: some are very e-mail oriented and good communicators; others seem more remote. The reality is though, even if everything at Hamilton were perfect, my daughter is having a difficult year transitioning from the safety and ease of having only one teacher in elementary school, whom she typically could have figured out how to wrap around her little finger. . .to five different teachers, each with their own quirks. There's a lot more expectations and a lot less patience for failure. Let's throw in a bit of puberty-induced attitude and a complete resistance to time management (avoidance of using the planner) and it's been a difficult year. Let's just say the our family and Hamilton continue to be working out the kinds.

Posted: May 10, 2010

As a parent of a student attending H.I.M.S. I echo the comments made by the parent who posted a review on Jan 11, 2010. There seems to be a real communication problem between parent-teacher and parent-administration. With the exception of one teacher at the school - our emails and phone calls have been ignored. Most recently we attempted to reach the student counselor by phone and left a message. Two weeks passed with no return call - when the counselor was finally reached by phone he apologized that he had been busy with something else. Had I not just happened to call when he was at his desk - would the call have ever been returned? The school office has routinely 'passed the buck' by requesting that we contact teachers directly via e-mail and > 90% of the time there is no response. HIMS communication? Epic fail!

Posted: March 30, 2010

I'm a hard working teacher at Hamilton. I put in long hours, meet with parents, organize extra curriculuar activities, take leadership roles in the building, and strive to design rigorous and engaging activities for ALL of my students. I feel fortunate to work with many colleagues who do the same. I hope that families who view this website take the positive and negative ratings with a grain of salt. No school is perfect or without its challenges. Over the last decade of my career at Hamiilton, I have seen a lot of progressive changes in both administration, academics, and electives. With the addition of the APP program, the newly remodeled building, the music program, and renewed dedication to academic excellence for all and an integrated international program, I expect to see the rating for Hamilton on this website increase. I'm excited for the future of Hamilton and proud to work there.

Posted: August 29, 2008

Posted: June 9, 2008