Pioneer Elementary School

Pioneer Elementary School is Peninsula School District’s first STEAM school. Our STEAM theme promotes project-based learning experiences around science, technology, engineering, art, and math concepts, skills, and philosophies. Our designation as a magnet school means that we do not have an official boundary, but instead, are open to all PSD boundary students. This type of school provides a unique opportunity for families to consider the best educational environment for their child. Families who wish to have their student(s) attend Pioneer Elementary School must complete the Enrollment Interest Form to be included in the enrollment lottery. A lottery will only take place if there are more interested students than there are spots available. 

We have a number of events before the 2026-27 enrollment interest process. Please join us to learn more about Pioneer!

• Thursday, 2/5/2026: Pioneer STEAM Night 5:30-7:30pm.  This fun community event is open to the public and showcases our STEAM focus, along with some of the innovative learning Pioneer students are doing.

• Tuesday, 2/10/2026: Informational Q&A Session via Zoom 10:00-10:45am. (link) Meeting ID: 222 270 7641, Passcode: 261838

• Tuesday, 2/24/2026: Take a tour during our Open House 5:30-6:30pm.

• Thursday, 2/26/2026: Informational Q&A Session via Zoom 5:30-6:15pm. (link) Meeting ID: 222 270 7641, 
  Passcode: 261838

Enrollment is open to all students in the Peninsula School District. If there are more students interested than spots available, PSD will conduct a lottery to determine enrollment. The 2026/27 interest process will be open from February 27 until March 8. Please see more information on the Pioneer Enrollment page. Families who are not selected for enrollment will be placed on the waitlist.

Peninsula School District values our families and recognizes that it is important to many families that siblings stay together at the same school. With that, we have designed the lottery to do our best to keep siblings together within the capacity we have established; however, it may not be possible in all circumstances as we can only accept as many students as space allows. 

All students will be pulled and placed on the grade level list. Once capacity has been reached, students will be placed on a waitlist.  Each year,  the waitlist is thrown out and we will restart with the new enrollment lottery for the following year, creating a new waitlist for that enrollment period. As families move over the summer, many students are admitted to Pioneer up until school starts.

District transportation to Pioneer is provided. Transportation to Pioneer may look different than your neighborhood school. Hub stops have been established, which may be parking lots or large intersections that can accommodate many families but may not be as close together as typical school bus routes. Students may need to be transported or walked to a hub stop by a family member. 

If you have questions about current hub stops, please call Transportation at 253-530-3900.

All Pioneer students attend four specialists, including Music, Phyiscal Education, Art & Tinkering, and Innovation. Each specialist sees students five days in a row, for week-long sessions that offer continuity, more in-depth learning, and support Pioneer’s Project Based Learning model.

The bus turnaround area will be on the north side of the school at the front of the new building and the parent drop off/pick up area will be on the south side, closest to Henderson Bay High School. We ask that parents do not use the bus loop to drop off or pick-up students, or turn around. We prioritize the safety of all and desire to keep these two modes of transportation separate. The parent drop off/pick up area is two lanes to allow for greater queuing. 

Yes. We staff the school with special education personnel to serve students who receive resource room and related services (SLP, OT, PT, etc.). Please note, however, that throughout the District, we have specific elementary schools designated to house special programs such as PACE (highly capable) and Options (life skills). Pioneer does not house a PACE or Options program and students who are placed in these programs should contact the Principal or the Executive Director of Student Services for further information. 

Pioneer Elementary opened to students in fall of 2020, temporarily housed at Henderson Bay High School.  The doors of the new building officially opened on January 19, 2021. The facility houses 30 classrooms for grades K through 5th grade.

The small and large flex spaces are areas designed for students and staff to use in a flexible manner. A teacher may have a pull-out group of students to work collectively on a project; another teacher may have a student working one-on-one with a reading mentor. Windows separate these spaces from classrooms so that teachers have a visual of what’s occurring in flex spaces.

A Makerspace is a communal room that provides hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering. Makerspaces generally accommodate a wide range of activities, tools and materials. These rooms tend to get messy, so they generally do not have carpeted floor space.