FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Students come to Gateway from public, traditional private, or other specialty schools in the greater Houston area.  Many students come to Gateway because they are struggling to meet the academic and social expectations in a typical classroom environment, and may be overwhelmed by the larger classroom sizes in those settings. A student is a good match for Gateway when they are ready to take ownership of their learning and are motivated by opportunities to be successful in the classroom and their community.

A typical class size at Gateway is 6-8 students.

Students typically spend 4 years at Gateway. Some students that join us during middle school transition to other learning environments during their high school years. 

Gateway middle school and high school students have separate lunch times on campus. Hot meals are provided by our outside company, Simply Fresh, which can be ordered online a month in advance. 

Gateway does not provide transportation to/from school. Gateway families travel from all over the greater Houston area and some of our families choose to coordinate carpools. 

The first step of the admissions process is to schedule a personal tour with our Director of Admissions to see if Gateway is a good fit for your child. The tour, application, and interview process typically takes 2-3 weeks. Applications are accepted and processed throughout the year for current openings. Enrollment offers for the upcoming school year are made in late March. 

Gateway Academy is committed to making our school accessible to families at all income levels and our Board is committed to providing approximately 10% of our yearly budget to financial aid. An application for financial aid can only be completed after acceptance to Gateway Academy through our ISM FAST system.  Approximately 15-25% of our students received some financial aid each year.

We do not provide testing and evaluation services but we work with many private diagnosticians and psychologistic in the greater Houston area, as well as the Houston Independent School District.

Gateway Academy is an accredited high school. Students receive letter grades and quarterly report cards. While we do not participate in the Texas standardized testing process, all of our students take the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP Testing) twice per year. Learn more about MAP Testing here (https://www.nwea.org/map-growth/). 

All families are able to participate in our after-school program. This program is a place for students to complete their homework and catch up on unfinished school work. During this time, students will be monitored by a faculty member.

Our summer programs are offered to current enrolled students and are high school credit courses, middle school camp and new student camp. Please email mhenderson@gatewayacademyhouston.org for a list of our full summer programs.

All students are provided with a personal iPad for educational use. Every classroom has an Apple TV and every teacher utilizes a MacBook or iPad capable of mirroring with Apple TV for a well-rounded modality system. Our entire campus is equipped with enterprise level Wi-Fi for high caliber internet service anywhere inside and outside the building.

Prior to COVID, our students social activities included monthly social outings, Family Fun Night, Prom, Lock-ins, and Student Council Events. 

Gateway Academy admits students of any race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation or any other status protected by the law in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs and other school-administered programs.

All students who attend Gateway Academy must come with all immunizations