Location: West Austin (Bee Cave)
15000 Hamilton Pool Rd
Bee Cave TX 78738
Students served: PreK (minimum 4 years old) through 6th grade
Current enrollment: 6 full-time students, 7 part-time students
Model/philosophy: The school offers a Christian STEM-inspired education, where curiosity and creativity are protected and academic learning is individualized. The Trellis community values knowing each child deeply and personally, and balancing high academic standards with project-based learning and protecting childhood!
Special features: Trellis Academy is on a very idyllic event venue that offers charm, farm animals, and a unique schoolhouse experience. Teachers challenge all of the students to think for themselves and also to own the pace of their education to get as far ahead as they want.
Schedule: Monday–Friday 8:30am–2pm is core academics. Trellis Academy offers enrichments Monday–Thursday 2pm–3:30pm for enrolled students and unenrolled community members.
Tuition: $14,500 annually for core academic day (8:30am–2pm), everything included. Enrichments are additional $500 per semester per day for enrolled students or $600 per semester per day for unenrolled students.
Contact: Courtney Murdoch, Founder | courtney@trellisacademy.com
Each listing in this alphabetical directory gives you a snapshot of a small, secular, independent, alternative school in the Austin area.
Hover over and click on a school’s name at the top of its listing to open the school’s website in a new tab. This frequently updated list spans several pages, with navigation buttons at the bottom. To easily find schools by geographical area, see our Alt Ed Maps page. If you know of a school that’s missing from this directory, please drop a note here, and see Alt Ed Austin’s criteria for “alternative” and “school.” You may also be interested in our directories of other recommended schools (which are mostly larger or more specialized or religiously oriented), as well as special programs for children and adults.
Full disclosure: Alt Ed Austin founder Teri Sperry has ties with several of the schools listed on this site. Her child, now an adult, attended two of them years ago. She has friends who direct, teach at, or are otherwise involved in others. Some programs choose to advertise from time to time on Alt Ed Austin as Sponsoring Partners. She firmly believes that all of the schools featured on this site (including the ones to which she has no personal connection and those from which she receives no advertising fees) are good choices for some kids, each for different reasons.
