We are delighted that you are interested in having your children attend Portland Jewish Academy (PJA). PJA has welcomed many Israelis in the past, including many Intel families.

You may be wondering if PJA is the right school for you and your children. Below you will find the answers to some commonly asked questions. At the bottom of this page you will find a list of contacts if you have other specific questions.

At PJA, we place students in classes according to their chronological age. We have found that this placement is very successful for students, especially when they are new to a language and a country.

All of our students are placed according to the September 1 birthday deadline. This policy best serves the students and the classroom, by helping students maximize their potential to learn English, to acculturate to our school, and to best fit into a developmentally appropriate social group. As a rule, we don’t make exceptions to this policy, because we have seen how successful students are when placed in class according to their chronological birthdate.

We have approximately 320 students in our school, 80 in preschool and 240 in our elementary and middle schools. Each year there are a limited number of openings in each class.

We have a two-stage admissions process.  Our initial application can be downloaded from our website.  Our admissions process takes into account whether our school is a good match for your student as well as other factors, such as balancing gender, language abilities and achievement levels in each class and each grade. It is a complex decision, and we cannot guarantee any child a spot until they successfully complete the admission process.

Once you’ve decided that you’d like to apply to PJA, here are the steps:

A) Complete the application form and fax or mail it to PJA. Include $50 application fee by mail or please give us your credit card (VISA or Mastercard) number, expiration date and confirmation code (3-digit number on back of card.) Our fax number is 503.452.7001.

B) We will then send you a letter confirming that we’ve received your application packet.  You will then need to have your child’s teacher or “mechanechet” complete the evaluation form and return it to us via email, mail or fax.

C) Contact the PJA office of admissions at least 3-4 weeks before arriving in Portland to make an appointment with the Admissions Director for you and your child.

D) When you come to Portland, we will take you on a tour of the campus, administer an assessment to your child, and meet with you.

a. If your child is applying for preschool (through age 4) or kindergarten, we will assess whether your child is ready for our school setting with a one-on-one meeting.

b. For older children, our educators will discuss your child’s education to date and assess whether PJA is a good match. We will meet you and your child. We may also ask your child to spend time visiting a classroom without parents.

c. For children of all ages, we will ask you to complete a short survey about your goals and expectations for your child’s education. This survey will guide our discussions with you.

E) If PJA decides that our school is a good match for your child, we will set a date on which your child will begin school, have you sign the tuition contract, and give you an orientation and a parent handbook. 

F) Please be aware – STAGE TWO OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS CAN TAKE UP TO ONE WEEK. We are happy to work with you to make the process as efficient as possible. However, no child will be accepted without an application, assessment and parent meeting, and no child can start school until the parents attend an orientation meeting with our staff.

We believe that you will find our teachers and students excited to have a new student in their classroom, and they will be very welcoming.  We have also found that working together flexibly is the best way to ease students’ transitions to our school.

PJA offers small-group English classes for Hebrew-speaking students.  Most new students will be offered approximately 4 hours of English language education per week, until they become proficient at conversational English and are reading at approximately grade level.  We anticipate that the average student requires this kind of service for 10 – 18 months.

We also recommend that you have your child become familiar with English before coming to PJA, either with some basic tutoring or learning some words and phrases at home.  If you are in Portland over the summer, we will be happy to recommend some excellent tutors.

Will my child be able to keep up their Hebrew language skills?
Depending on enrollment and teacher resources, we may offer special Hebrew instruction classes for native and advanced Hebrew speakers. These classes are not the same as what is offered in Israeli schools, as they are geared to American – Israeli students, or advanced American Hebrew speakers. You may choose to work with a tutor for Hebrew outside of school hours; we will be happy to provide names of tutors who have worked with PJA students in the past.

PJA shares an large campus with the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, which offers sports and other after-school activities. PJA also offers after-school classes as well as Kidscorner (after-school care) and the Teen Center (after-school care for students in middle school.)