1
Canterbury School of Florida
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK3-12·~1,112 students
Accepts scholarshipsEPISCOPALIANCo-ed
Tuition$26.8K/yr
TypeEPISCOPALIAN
Students~1,112
ST. PETERSBURG
Best Private Middle Schools in St. Petersburg
Independent rankings of Private Middle schools in St. Petersburg, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
55 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
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AdmitCompass tracks 55 private middle-level schools in St. Petersburg. Annual tuition ranges from $7.0K/yr to $34.7K/yr, with a median of $12.8K/yr across schools that publish a number. St. Petersburg has the highest concentration with 28 schools, followed by St Petersburg (12). 34 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 62% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Private schools on this page set their own admissions criteria. Most ask for a school visit, prior records, and a family interview; competitive K and 6th-grade entry points often fill 6-9 months before the start of school. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
See also: Private.
Showing 10 of 55 St. Petersburg schools
- 2Northside Christian School
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~900 students
Accepts scholarshipsChristianCo-edAffordableTuition$18.8K/yrTypeChristianStudents~900 - 3Keswick Christian School
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~747 students
Accepts scholarshipsChristianCo-edAffordableTuition$18K/yrTypeChristianStudents~747 - 4Admiral Farragut Academy
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades K-12·~541 students
Accepts scholarshipsNone (nonsectarian)Co-edTuition$24.9K/yrTypeNone (nonsectarian)Students~541 - 5Lutheran Church Of The Cross Day School
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~508 students
LutheranCo-edAffordableTuition$18.2K/yrTypeLutheranStudents~508 - 6Saint Petersburg Catholic High School
Saint Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades 09-12·~496 students
Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$16K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~496 - 7Shorecrest Preparatory School
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK3-12·~1,050 students
None (nonsectarian)Co-edTuition$34.7K/yrTypeNone (nonsectarian)Students~1,050 - 8Saint Petersburg Christian School
Saint Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades KG-08·~354 students
Accepts scholarshipsChristianCo-edAffordableTuition$13.9K/yrTypeChristianStudents~354 - 9St. Raphael Catholic School
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~201 students
Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$10.3K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~201 - 10Holy Family
Saint Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades KG-08·~199 students
Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$10.1K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~199
How we rank these schools
Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.
Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.
We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for middle schools in St. Petersburg?
Across the 55 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $7.0K/yr to $34.7K/yr, with a median of $12.8K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission to private schools in St. Petersburg?
Selective private schools review transcripts, teacher recommendations, an admissions test (ISEE or SSAT for grades 5-12), and an in-person visit. Acceptance rates vary widely — some schools accept nearly every qualified applicant, while top-tier programs admit fewer than 25%. Apply 9-12 months ahead of the start date.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
34 of the 55 schools on this page accept Florida's Step Up For Students / FES-EO / FES-UA scholarships. That covers most or all of tuition for income-eligible families. Each school's detail page lists the specific scholarship programs accepted.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Sawyer Scholastics Llc is the smallest with 1 students; Canterbury School of Florida is the largest at 1112. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.
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