SSAT for Grades 6 and Up in Hawaiʻi: Test Dates, Levels and School Requirements
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Academia Tutor School
Parent Questionnaire for Hawaiʻi Private Schools: What to Write, and When
Academia123
Written by: Academia Tutor School Editorial Team / Supervised by: Yamahi
THE SHORT ANSWER
- It is a questionnaire, not an essay. Punahou and ʻIolani call it the Parent Questionnaire; Mid-Pacific calls it the Parent/Guardian Summary. You answer questions in a form inside the application system (myPunahou, Ravenna, myPueo) about your child, your family and your interest in the school. The questions themselves are visible only after you create an application account.
- When it is due: Punahou, November 7 for grades 6–12, November 1 for grades 1–3 and December 1 for grades 4–5. Mid-Pacific, January 15, 2027. ʻIolani, January 31, 2027. All are checklist items assigned after you submit the application.
- Some schools do not have one: St. Andrew’s holds an online parent interview instead. Le Jardin and Hanahauʻoli publish no parent-written component in their application requirements.
- How to write it: the one official description is Mid-Pacific’s: share “your child’s unique qualities, your family, and your interest” in the school. Write in scenes rather than adjectives, do not hide what your child is still working on, and describe the school from what you saw with your own eyes. A fictional sample is in this article.
Your guide for this article
School Owner / Hironori Yamaguchi
Yamahi
Introduction
School Owner of Academia Language School in Honolulu, founded in 1969. Moved to Hawaiʻi with family in 2022; father of three. Off duty: caddying at the kids’ golf. Supervises the columns on Academia Tutor School.
How we check this article
- ✓Only facts checked on official school and state pages
- ✓School year and date checked are stated
- ✓Independent: not affiliated with any school
“I heard parents have to write something for the application. What do they want?” and “How long should it be?” are the questions we hear most from October to December. This article checks the 2027-28 application checklists and admissions pages of Punahou, ʻIolani, Mid-Pacific, St. Andrew’s, Le Jardin and Hanahauʻoli (as of October 29, 2026) for the name of the parent-written component, where it lives, when it is due and what each school says it wants to learn. It then adds the Academia Tutor School editorial team’s method for writing it, with a fictional sample. Dates are Hawaiʻi time.
What the “parent statement” actually is, and where it lives
What families often call a parent statement or parent essay is, at the three largest schools, a questionnaire or a summary. You do not write a free-form essay on a blank page. You answer a set of questions in a form inside the application system.
Parent-written component in the 2027-28 application (three main schools)
Two schools also ask the child to write on campus: Punahou’s grades 9–12 at the Saturday session (interview and writing), and ʻIolani’s grades 6–11 as a short writing sample on the day of the group session or interview.
The other three schools publish no parent-written component. Each handles the parent’s voice differently.
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St. Andrew’s
No written parent component is published. Instead there is an online admissions interview: parents only for K–6, parents and student together for grades 7–12, with a member of the admissions committee. Priority application deadline January 15, 2027; documents February 16; decisions March 31, 2027.
St. Andrew’s application page →🌿
Le Jardin
The published requirements for PK–11 are the online application, teacher references, report cards and testing (SSAT, interview and group activity from grade 6). No parent-written item. The exception is the Parent Summary Form for international homestay applicants in grades 9–12. Applications December 15; documents February 15.
Le Jardin application page →🌺
Hanahauʻoli
The FAQ says “the application, teacher reference forms, school reports, and interview comments are all read and considered carefully,” and no parent-written item is published. There is no testing; children are seen in small groups on Saturdays in January and February. Applications close November 30 (late fee after November 15); decisions early April 2027.
Hanahauʻoli application timeline →Checked October 29, 2026 on each school’s 2027-28 admissions pages. Whether the online application form itself contains free-text questions cannot be seen without creating an account, so only the published requirements are listed here.
⚠︎ You cannot see the questions until you create an application account
None of the six schools publishes the question wording, the number of questions or a word limit. You see them only after you create an account in the application system (myPunahou, Ravenna, myPueo, Finalsite Enrollment), submit the application and receive your checklist. Do not start writing from a list of “the questions” found online. They change by year and by grade.
When is it due? Application deadlines and questionnaire deadlines
The questionnaire deadline is separate from the application deadline. At Punahou it comes about a week after the application; at ʻIolani and Mid-Pacific it comes after New Year. In every case the checklist is assigned only after you apply, so you also see the questions only after you apply.
Application deadlines and parent-questionnaire deadlines (2027-28, three main schools)
PunahouʻIolaniMid-Pacific
Application deadlineFinancial aidQuestionnaire and documentsDecisions
Application deadlineFinancial aidQuestionnaire and documentsDecisions
Oct
Oct 1 Punahou grades 1–5 application deadline (closed). K was Sept 1 / Oct 1 (closed)Oct 15 ʻIolani K application deadline (closed)▼ Today, Oct 29
Nov
Nov 1 Punahou grades 6–12 application deadline. Parent Questionnaire for grades 1–3 is also dueNov 2 Mid-Pacific application deadline (all grades)Nov 7 Punahou grades 6–12: Parent and Candidate Questionnaires dueNov 15 ʻIolani grades 6 and 7–11 application deadline
Dec
Dec 1 Punahou grades 4–5: Parent Questionnaire dueDec 31 Punahou: teacher references and SSAT due
Jan
Jan 15 Mid-Pacific: Parent/Guardian Summary, Student Summary and references dueJan 31 ʻIolani: Parent Questionnaire, Student Questionnaire and references due
Mar
March decisions (ʻIolani mid-March, Mid-Pacific March, St. Andrew’s March 31. Punahou does not publish a date)
Even where the application deadline has passed (Punahou K–5, ʻIolani K), the questionnaire deadline is still ahead. Once you have applied, do not miss the item inside the checklist.
What the schools say they want to learn
The questions are not public, but some schools do say what the component is for. Reading your school’s own words before you write keeps your answers pointed in the right direction.
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Mid-Pacific
The checklist says the form “offers you the opportunity to share insights about your child’s unique qualities, your family, and your interest in Mid-Pacific.” It opens with “every child has a unique story to tell” and wants to know your child “as a learner, community member, and individual.” The Student Summary for grades 6–12 is to be written “in their own words.”
Mid-Pacific school page →📗
ʻIolani
The grades 7–11 checklist states that parents are not interviewed and attend an informational session during the candidate’s interview. The questionnaire is therefore the one place where the school hears the parents’ own thinking. The admissions page lists “a teacher reference report and a parent questionnaire” as required.
ʻIolani school page →📘
Punahou
The applying page says “we know that every child is on their own learning journey, and we view report cards as just one part of the bigger picture.” For the questionnaire itself, only the item name and the due date are published.
Punahou school page →🌺
Hanahauʻoli
The FAQ says the school “seeks families who believe in and support its philosophy and educational program” and who are “committed to partnering with the School.” No written component is published, but this is what the whole application is read for.
Quotations are from each school’s 2027-28 checklists and admissions pages, checked October 29, 2026.
⚠︎ From here on, this is the Academia Tutor School editorial team’s method
The “four ingredients,” the writing steps, the sample and the common mistakes below are not instructions from any school. They are built from what Academia Tutor School has seen while helping families apply, and from the schools’ own words above. Use what fits the actual questions you are given.
Four ingredients to collect before you write, and the steps
The questionnaire is not the place to describe your child with adjectives. It is the place to hand the school material it can picture. If you note these four things before you see the questions, you can answer whatever they ask.
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① Three scenes
Not “he is kind,” but “on school mornings he sets out his sister’s shoes before his own.” Three moments with a time, a place and an action. One at home, one at school, one outside keeps it balanced.
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② One thing your family values
A rule or a habit you keep (reading aloud every night, Sunday cooking duty). Not “we value education,” but the habit itself.
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③ One point of contact with this school
A moment at the open house, on a tour or on the school’s pages where you saw with your own eyes that this is a fit. Not the mission statement copied back.
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④ One thing your child is still working on
Waiting for a turn, freezing in new places. Schools are not looking for a perfect child. Pair the struggle with how you handle it at home.
Steps for writing the parent questionnaire (Academia Tutor School method)
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1Apply and get the checklist
The questions appear only after you apply. Read all of them first and note any word limit
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2Note the four ingredients
Three scenes, one family habit, one point of contact, one thing in progress. Each parent lists scenes separately; you get more of them
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3Draft in your own words
For each question: answer, then scene, then your family’s thinking. One or two scenes per question, not more
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4Tighten
Cut adjectives, superlatives, praise of the school and comparisons with other children. What remains should be scenes and your own thinking
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5Check for consistency
Read it aloud as a family. It should match what the teacher reference and the child’s interview will show
6Submit a week early
Deadlines are a date, not a time of day. Send it with time to spare
A sample answer: which sentences are scenes, which are your thinking
Below is a fictional example written by the Academia Tutor School editorial team (not a real family). Imagine a general prompt such as “Please tell us about your child,” answered in five sentences. The numbered notes show which of the four ingredients each sentence carries.
A parent-questionnaire answer (fictional, five sentences)
SAMPLE (FICTIONAL): answer to “Please tell us about your child.”
1On school mornings, our son sets out his younger sister’s shoes next to his own before anyone asks him to. 2He started doing this last spring after she cried about being late, and he decided it was his job to help. 3At home we try to let him solve small problems himself, even when it takes longer. 4He still finds it hard to wait his turn in games, and we talk about it together after each playdate. 5At your open house, we watched children explain their own projects to visitors, and that is how we hope he will learn.
1
① Open with a scene
Not “he is thoughtful.” A time, a place and an action the reader can picture
2
① What started it, and his own decision
Deepen the same scene by one sentence. It shows the child chose this himself
3
② Your family’s thinking
One sentence of family policy, after the scene. Policy first reads like a lecture
4
④ Do not hide what is in progress
The struggle and how you handle it, together. No attempt to present a perfect child
5
③ The point of contact
Not the mission statement, but one moment you saw. Stronger than “your school is wonderful”
⚠︎ Please do not copy the sample
These five sentences exist to show a structure: scene, what started it, family thinking, what is in progress, point of contact. Real questionnaires ask several separate questions, and some schools set word limits. Rewrite everything with your own child’s real scenes. If the questionnaire contradicts the teacher reference or the child’s interview, it confuses the reader rather than helping.
Five common mistakes and how to fix them
Common ways of writing the parent questionnaire, and the fix (Academia Tutor School)
If you are writing from outside Hawaiʻi
Families applying from the mainland or from another country stumble less on English than on explaining their own school system and on time zones. Below, the published school rules are kept separate from what Academia Tutor School has seen in practice.
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Language
The form arrives in English and is answered in English. No school publishes a rule allowing another language. If English is not your first language and you use a translation tool, translate the result back and check that the meaning survived, then cut the sentences short.
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Your school system
Terms like “class representative,” “after-school club” or a national exam mean different things in different countries. Explain the role in a few words, and add your child’s age next to the grade (for example “grade 3 in Japan, age 8–9”).
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Time zones and deadlines
Hawaiʻi is behind most of the world. The schools publish a date, not a time of day, so send it the day before the deadline in your own time zone.
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One answer per family
The questionnaire is one per family. Each parent writes scenes separately first, then you merge them: the moments one parent sees and the other does not both get in. Ask the admissions office how to handle two households.
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The student’s own part
Punahou (grades 6–12), ʻIolani (grades 7–11) and Mid-Pacific (grades 6–12) also have a student-written form. Mid-Pacific says “in their own words.” An adult’s writing is easy to spot. Let your child draft it, and help only with the language.
“School rules” were checked on each school’s official pages on October 29, 2026. Everything else is Academia Tutor School’s experience, not a school’s instructions.
What Academia Tutor School can do
The questionnaire has to be in the parents’ own words, so we do not write it for you. In the Hawaiʻi Private School Transfer Plan we set up the application account with you, read the questions together, draw out the four ingredients in a conversation, check the wording of your draft, and prepare the student’s own form (Candidate or Student Questionnaire, Student Summary), all counted back from the deadline. The Private School Admissions Prep program covers what the schools look at alongside the questionnaire: interviews, group activities and writing, with online lessons for families outside Hawaiʻi.
Related pages
- Teacher recommendations: who, when and how to ask · Child and parent interviews · 2027-28 application deadlines
- Hawaiʻi School Guide: Punahou · ʻIolani · Mid-Pacific
Sources (checked October 29, 2026)
- Punahou School, “Applying to Punahou” and the 2027-28 checklists for K, grades 1–3, 4–5, 6–8 and 9–12 (punahou.edu/admissions, myPunahou)
- ʻIolani School, “Day Admission” and the 2027-28 checklists for Kindergarten, grade 6 and grades 7–11 (iolani.org/admission/day)
- Mid-Pacific Institute, “Apply to Mid-Pacific” and the 2027-28 Application Process and Checklist for Preschool, Kindergarten, grades 1–5 and 6–12 (midpac.edu/admissions)
- St. Andrew’s Schools, “Applying to K–12” (standrewsschools.org); Le Jardin Academy, “Apply Now” and “Homestay Program” (lejardinacademy.org); Hanahauʻoli School, “Application timeline” and “Admissions FAQs” (hanahauoli.org)
Information as of October 29, 2026. Punahou’s dates are shown as month and day because the official materials carry no year. Question wording, word limits and deadlines change from year to year, so always confirm in each school’s application system and with its admissions office. The “four ingredients,” the steps, the sample, the mistakes and the notes for families outside Hawaiʻi are the Academia Tutor School editorial team’s method, not any school’s instructions. The sample is fictional. Academia Tutor School is not affiliated with any of these schools.
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