Mariners Christian School

Mariners Christian School does not use a standardized entrance exam; admission uses an on-campus assessment or visit day.

The school website does not publish this year’s application dates; confirm them with the admissions office.

This school does not use a standardized entrance test. It assesses applicants on campus, so preparation centers on the visit day and the parent interview rather than test registration. Application dates are set by the school each year; ask the admissions office for the current calendar and plan backward from it.

Academics and programs described on the Mariners Christian School website include:

• Bible is a required core subject for TK-8, with all-school chapel each week and a week of spiritual emphasis before both Christmas and Easter (school website, Spiritual Formation page)
• Elementary specialist classes: physical education, MakerSpace (two maker classrooms), technology, Spanish, music, and art (school website, Elementary and Tour pages)
• Middle school: tiered from honors courses to tutorial support, with the Mariners Institute of the Arts for visual and performing arts, interscholastic athletics, and student leadership programs such as ASB (school website, Middle School page)
• Grade-level experience weeks: outdoor science camp in grade 6, the Heart to Serve service day in grade 7, and the Washington, D.C. trip in grade 8 (school website, Middle School page)
• Math in K-8 uses Envision Math, science follows NGSS, and English language arts follows Common Core (school website, Elementary page)

These are the schools nearest to Mariners Christian School at the same level, with the basic facts each school publishes. Select a name to open that school’s admissions guide:

School	Grades	Tuition	Entrance test	Distance
Mariners Christian School	K-8	$12,441	On-campus assessment	—
Frontiers Academy	K-8	Not published	—	0.3 mi
St. John the Baptist Catholic School	K-8	$9,742	On-campus assessment	1.3 mi
Bethel Classical Academy	K-9	$10,900	On-campus assessment	2.4 mi
Saint Joachim Catholic School	K-8	$9,195	On-campus assessment	3.0 mi

Mariners Christian School tuition for 2026-27 is tiered by grade or program, from $12,441 to $16,340. Over 9 years covering grades K-8, total tuition falls between $111,969 and $147,060, depending on which tier each grade falls in; ask the school for its grade-by-grade tuition table. This uses current-year rates and excludes registration fees, deposits, uniforms and activity fees; the school sets tuition for later years annually.

These are straight-line distances to Mariners Christian School from neighborhoods where many Irvine families live. Actual drive times will be longer; time the drive once during school hours:

Neighborhood	Straight-line distance
Woodbury	7.9 miles
Northwood	6.8 miles
Turtle Rock	4.6 miles
Portola Springs	9.6 miles

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

When you visit Mariners Christian School, confirm these points with the admissions office:

• Whether religion classes and chapel are required, and how many families are not members of the faith
• Which grades require an entrance test, and which test
• How many mid-year openings come up in a typical year, and how the waitlist works
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

EDUBUS counselors in Irvine work in both Chinese and English with families applying to Mariners Christian School. We track Mariners Christian School’s admissions calendar, prepare students for the campus visit and interview, and review application materials before they are submitted. Book a school-selection consultation or read the Chinese version of this page.