The Bear Creek School is a preschool through grade twelve private school in Redmond, Washington. Educating around 840 students, the school is a non-denominational Christian religious school, focusing on college preparation. It was established in 1988. The head of school is Patrick Carruth. As of 2020, school review website Niche ranks The Bear Creek School as the best Christian high school, third best private K-12 school, and seventh best college prep private high schools in Washington state. Campuses The Bear Creek School has three campuses in Redmond, Washington. The main campus houses lower school, early middle school, and middle school. The second, or valley, campus houses preschool and pre-k. The third campus or upper campus houses upper school. Academics In profiles of the school, The Bear Creek School was one of 50 private schools nationwide selected in the 2014 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and the only school in the State of Washington, public or private, recognized by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The Bear Creek School is accredited by the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities and the Northwest Association of Independent Schools. The school is also a member of the Association of Christian Schools International. Despite being a small school, Bear Creek students have had consistent successes in the National Merit Scholarship competition: 2002: one National Merit semifinalist. 2003: three National Merit semifinalists. 2005: two National Merit semifinalists. 2006: four National Merit semifinalists. 2007: two National Merit semifinalists. 2008: two National Merit semifinalists. 2009: one National Merit semifinalist. 2010: one National Merit semifinalist. 2011: three National Merit semifinalists 2012: three National Merit semifinalists 2013: three National Merit semifinalists 2014: one National Merit semifinalist 2015: three National Merit semifinalists Athletics The school is a member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), participating as a member of the Emerald City 1A League and the CrossTown Middle School League. In 2014, The Bear Creek School opted up to the 1A classification. Numerous teams have won academic state titles. Performances of note: Basketball In 2007, Will Sanger walked on to the University of Tulsa basketball team, which competes in Division I (NCAA). The boys' varsity basketball team took fifth in 2008 and 2010 and third in 2011 and 2014 in the WIAA 2B boys' basketball state tournament. Golf Marianne Banton placed second in the Class 1A/B state girls' golf tournament in 2004 and first in 2005. In 2007, Sydney Conway