Cities / Manila / Faith Academy
Faith Academy
Faith Academy is a Christian international school in Cainta, Rizal, running an American curriculum with AP courses for around 600 students from 20+ nationalities. Annual fees run from PHP 234K (Pre-K) to PHP 1.13M (High School, including facility fee), with…
In brief
Long-established Christian K-12 in Cainta serving the missionary community since 1957, with around 600 students from 20-plus nationalities and a boarding option for families based outside Metro Manila.
Faith runs an American curriculum with Cambridge IGCSE/A-Level and AP options, accredited by WASC and ACSI. Most staff are missionaries themselves, and 90 percent of students are expat children of Christian workers. The campus sits in Valley Golf, roughly 22 km from downtown Manila, so families further out either take school vans or board.
Parents praise the strong values formation, low bullying, and tight community feel. Athletics and arts are well developed, with teams travelling to regional tournaments across Asia. Some recent feedback notes a small clique of wealthier students that sits oddly against the school's mission ethos. Tuition is markedly lower than ISM or Brent, which fits the missionary-family base. The fit is right when you want explicit Christian formation, a smaller cohort, and you accept the commute or boarding.
Fees
| Fee | Age | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-K (age 4-5) | 4 | Annual | ₱234,193 |
| Elementary K-Grade 5 (age 5-11) | 5 | Annual | ₱998,355 |
| Middle School Grade 6-8 (age 11-14) | 11 | Annual | ₱1,067,568 |
| High School Grade 9-12 (age 14-18) | 14 | Annual | ₱1,131,413 |
| Application Fee - new students (USD 150-300 equivalent, mid-point) | One-time | ₱12,713 | |
| Seat Deposit (credited to tuition - USD 300 equivalent) | One-time | ₱16,950 |
Reviews
- Faith Academy serves missionary kids first; four out of five students are children of missionaries or Christian workers, with the rest from business families. Reviews need to be read against that base.
- Public parent reviews are short and positive. One on Edarabia said the boarding experience "has been transformative for my child, with dedicated staff guiding their incredible growth and academic success". Another parent who lives outside the Christian frame said this is the school to consider for children to "learn values and develop godly moral character".
- Teachers are described as committed, with parents and commenters noting that staff are "way overqualified" for the salary, reflecting the missionary-vocation model.
- A 2025 reviewer called out a sharper social dynamic. They wrote that the worst part of Faith Academy was "the rich kids", an emerging tension between missionary families and the fee-paying business families now sharing the cohort.
- The most serious online signal is historical. Survivor accounts and reporting describe sexual abuse at the school in the 1970s and 1980s, including allegations against a long-running staff member, with criticism that the missions agencies operating Faith Academy investigated themselves rather than commissioning independent review. The school is now a member of the Child Safety Protection Network and hosted a 2015 multi-school safeguarding initiative; these are publicly recorded responses, not denials of the underlying history.
- Practical detail surfaces too. Boarding is reserved for families outside Metro Manila and not on Faith's van routes, a structural choice that shapes who the boarding programme serves.
Head of school
Mr. Barlow
Leighton Helwig is the Head of School at Faith Academy. An alumnus of the school who attended from Kindergarten through Grade 12, he later returned to serve as a science teacher before transitioning into his current leadership role. Having spent the majority of his life within the Faith Academy community, Helwig is deeply committed to the school's mission of supporting missionary families and forming Christlike, lifelong learners. He oversees a curriculum that balances rigorous academics with spiritual, creative, and physical development.
Accreditations
- Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Accrediting Commission for Schools) 01
- Association of Christian Schools International 02