Harbor Day School

Overview

Harbor Day School is an independent, non-sectarian K-8 private school in Newport Beach, California, serving grades K-8, founded in 1952, with about 416 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $39,350, which puts it in the upper range among Orange County private schools at this level. Average class size is about 22. Mandarin is offered. The school does not issue I-20s, so students who need an F-1 visa are not eligible.

Admissions

The ISEE is required for applicants.

The school publishes the following application details. For the 2027-28 school year: the online application opens September 1, 2026 and closes January 8, 2027, which the school website calls a hard deadline, with no rolling admission and no mid-year entry; decisions are released in March. Tours can be scheduled only after an application has been submitted, on a first-come, first-served basis. Grades 2-8 take the ISEE, with remote testing available; kindergarten and grade 1 are assessed on campus and in person only; every applicant’s student visit day must take place on campus. The school website provides checklists by grade band (K / 1-4 / 5-6 / 7-8). The main entry points are kindergarten, grade 5 and grade 6; openings in grades 1-4, 7 and 8 depend on attrition and are usually not known until March. The waitlist is unranked and stays active through the summer. Admissions events: an open house for grade 5-8 families on Saturday, November 7, 2026 from 9:00 to 11:00; a kindergarten parent session on December 2; and a Middle School Experience session on December 3 from 15:30 to 17:00. (School website, Frequently Asked Questions, How to Apply and Affording Harbor Day pages)

The main entry points at a K-8 school are kindergarten and grade 6. Younger applicants are usually evaluated through an on-campus visit, while most applicants above grade 5 need an ISEE score. Start in the fall of the year before entry: visit first to confirm the school is a fit, then decide whether to register for testing.

Tuition and fees

$39,350 per year (2026-27, a single price for K-8, school website, Affording Harbor Day page; includes daily lunch, field trips, school supplies, athletics, a one-to-one iPad and the yearbook)

The 2026-27 tuition of $39,350 already includes daily lunch, all field trips, school supplies, athletics, a one-to-one iPad and the yearbook. In addition: a contract deposit of $4,000, which is applied to tuition; a new family registration fee of $2,000, charged once when the first child enrolls, and a new student registration fee of $500 for each additional child when that child enrolls; families choosing the ten-payment plan must also purchase tuition refund insurance at $400 per student per year. Payment options are pay in full ($35,350, due May 1, 2026), two payments ($24,745 plus $10,605), or ten payments of $3,535. Tuition is collected through Blackbaud Tuition Management. A 529 plan may be used to pay up to $10,000 per student per year toward K-12 tuition. (School website, Affording Harbor Day page)

Financial aid: Aid is need-based and applied for through the Clarity platform. The FAQ on the school website states that “Awards range from around 10% of annual tuition to 90% of annual tuition,” and families must reapply each year. For the 2027-28 school year the Clarity application opens December 1, 2026 and closes February 5, 2027, with a $60 submission fee; current families receive decisions on February 26, 2027, and new families receive them together with the enrollment contract. The school website states that admission decisions are need-blind. (School website, Affording Harbor Day page)

Academics and programs

• World languages: Spanish three times a week beginning in kindergarten; grade 5 students take one semester each of Latin and Mandarin, and grades 6-8 continue with one of the two (school website, Admission FAQ)
• Lower school specialist classes: art, music, technology, physical education, library and engineering/woodshop (school website, Curriculum page)
• A one-to-one iPad at every grade level, with the cost included in tuition (school website, Affording Harbor Day page)
• Beyond the Bell after-school program: Monday through Friday until 5:00 p.m., with a snack and enrichment classes such as Minecraft, art, chess and robotics (school website, Admission FAQ)
• The curriculum follows CAIS and NAIS recommendations (school website, Curriculum page)

How this school compares

These are the nearest schools at the same level and a comparable price. Select a name to open that school’s admissions guide:

School	City	Grades	Tuition	Entrance test	Class size	Distance
Harbor Day School	Newport Beach	K-8	$39,350	ISEE	22	—
The Pegasus School	Huntington Beach	K-8	$33,550	ISEE	—	7.0 mi
Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School	Newport Beach	K-8	$12,380	On-campus assessment	25	2.0 mi
Carden Hall	Newport Beach	K-8	$20,760	On-campus assessment	—	4.8 mi
Page Academy — Costa Mesa Campus (Newport Mesa Campus)	Costa Mesa	K-8	$18,920	—	—	5.0 mi

Where students go next

Placements over the years as listed on the school website’s High School Placement page (Beyond HDS): local high schools Corona del Mar High, Crean Lutheran High, JSerra, Mater Dei High, Newport Harbor High, Orange Lutheran High, Pacifica Christian High, Portola High, Sage Hill School, Santa Margarita High and St. Margaret’s Episcopal; boarding schools Cate School, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter Academy, Stevenson School and The Thacher School. The school website does not publish counts or percentages for each school; the Admission FAQ page additionally mentions Laguna Beach High School and Choate Rosemary Hall.

Schools in our guide library that appear on this list: Mater Dei High School, Crean Lutheran High School, Sage Hill School, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter, Choate Rosemary Hall.

Applying to high school from here usually begins in the spring of grade 7: sit the ISEE or HSPT in the fall of grade 8, then submit materials between November and January. EDUBUS works backward from each target high school’s requirements to plan grades, activities and test preparation across the K-8 years.

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $39,350, 9 years covering grades K-8 come to roughly $354,150 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $416,000. Neither number includes registration fees, deposits, uniforms or activity fees. A California 529 plan can cover up to $10,000 per child per year of K-12 tuition.

Getting there from Irvine

These are straight-line distances from neighborhoods where many Irvine families live. Actual drive times will be longer, and a morning rush-hour trip typically takes 1.5 to 2 times as long as an off-peak one:

Neighborhood	Straight-line distance
Woodbury	9.1 miles
Northwood	8.6 miles
Turtle Rock	3.2 miles
Portola Springs	11.6 miles

The website does not describe bus service; confirm this during your visit.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Transportation — the school website’s site map (/site-map) has no Transportation page, none of the Admission FAQ, Affording Harbor Day or How to Apply pages has a transportation entry, and the school website carries …
• Application fee — neither the How to Apply page nor the FAQ page states the amount of the admission application fee (the $60 is the submission fee for the Clarity financial aid platform, not an application fee)
• Graduate placement percentages — the High School Placement page lists school names only, with no counts or percentages
• WASC accreditation — the About page on the school website links only to CAIS and makes no mention of WASC; the WASC entry in the accreditation field could not be re-verified on the school website this round
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Harbor Day School’s admissions calendar, prepare students for the ISEE, and review application materials before they are submitted. Book a school-selection consultation or read the Chinese version of this page.