I came here for a volleyball game with my daughter, and I was impressed. The school has very nice…read morefacilities and a welcoming atmosphere. Everyone we met staff, parents, and students was friendly and respectful. The gym was clean, bright, and well maintained, which made for a good experience all around. It's always nice when schools take pride in their space. Great environment and a positive visit.

We have been part of the Westside Neighborhood School community for the past 10 years, and it has…read morebeen an incredibly positive experience for our family. Three of our four children have attended WNS, and our youngest is now an 8th grader preparing to matriculate out. What stands out most about WNS is the strong sense of community and the school's genuine commitment to diversity in the student population, administration, and faculty/staff. Our children have been surrounded by classmates and educators from a wide range of backgrounds, which has enriched their learning experience and helped them develop empathy, curiosity, and confidence. The teachers are deeply dedicated and truly know their students, balancing academic rigor with emotional and social growth. Communication with families is excellent, and we've always felt supported and included in our children's educational journey. After a decade at WNS, we can confidently say it has provided our kids with an exceptional foundation both academically and personally. We're so grateful for the warm, inclusive environment and the lifelong friendships our family has built here. If you're considering WNS, we can't recommend it highly enough! It's a wonderful place for children to learn, grow, and thrive.

Beyond grateful for this incredible school. My son attended TK -8th. The staff and faculty were…read moredevoted, kind and steadfast in their commitment to not just teach academics but character, and beyond that, how to be good stewards of their community and the planet. And it was fascinating to watch the transition from Kinder, through the grades and into the rigorous middle grade years. Each building block preparing them for the next milestone. He was well-prepared for high school!

We signed up for a prospective family tour and came with our son, excited to show him a potential…read morenew school. Unfortunately, the front desk staff were rude and inflexible from the moment we walked in. Rather than welcoming a prospective student, they spent the entire interaction explaining all the reasons he couldn't see the campus that day. A simple gesture -- "since you're here, let us take five minutes to show him around" -- would have meant the world to a child. Instead, we got rigid rules and zero warmth. If this is how a school treats prospective families during what should be their best foot forward, I can only imagine the day-to-day environment for kids. We made the decision on the spot not to enroll. I'd recommend other families look elsewhere.

"Our experience at Walgrove elementary school has been absolutely wonderful! The large campus -…read morebeautiful wild-lands and Garden - theater, tap, steam studio, chess, etc. and the teachers are truly loving and dedicated. Parent involvement is strong, which creates a real sense of community. We feel incredibly fortunate to be part of such a supportive and enriching environment. Couldn't be happier!"

Awesome community! Academics are strong, plus great steam offering, amazing extra curricular…read more(violin, chess, ridiculously musical theater, etc) , plus a HUGE campus with lots of nature. Really don't know what more you could ask for!!! We've had two kids go through the school!

We love Grandview! Our oldest just graduated with a biliteracy award in Spanish. Our youngest will…read morebe in third grade and is just about caught up from falling behind during COVID. Their dual immersion program is the best. We don't speak Spanish at home but our kids are pretty fluent. Great teachers, admin and staff.

My son joined Grand View in the first grade and it was the best decision we could have made for…read morehim. We were concerned at first that he would struggle learning Spanish because we are an English-speaking household, but we're partway through the semester now and already he's excited and confident to practice his language skills. The teachers at this school are fantastic. They care about the academic success and emotional well-being of their students, and I am so impressed by the differentiated learning that happens. My son has been challenged in the areas where he excels and given extra help where he struggles. They also have so many extras: gardening, cooking, library, art, and more. The parent community is very passionate and there are many opportunities to be involved if that's what you're looking for. Basically, I can't say enough good things about this school! We left a highly competitive charter to come here and I'm so glad we made that choice.

His teacher was NOT kind. She physically assaulted my son - Took his hands pressed them together…read morethen slammed them down on his desk. He was "fidgeting too much" she said... A 1st grade boy. Principal seemed to think this behavior was acceptable and nothing was ever done. We stayed at this school for the 1 year and immediately withdrew our son at the end of the school year. This place sweeps things under the rug and doesn't care for their students. Avoid at all costs!

My grandson is in the 2023-24 kindergarten class. The principal, administrative staff, the 5 TK/K…read moreteachers, & their teacher aides all work collaboratively. They are truly amazing professionals - not only smart, but well-educated, efficient, kind, proactive, inclusive, welcoming to everyone, creative, technologically advanced, & academically focused. We feel blessed by having him as a Mar Vista student.

Reviewing the Mandarin dual language immersion program: the school and strong parent community have…read morebeen amazing. The program is organized so that kids learn half the time in English, and half the time in Chinese. This is "double-learning" -- they go through a full elementary school program in both languages. The school also responded amazingly well to the pandemic, with teachers taking the initiative to send daily recorded lessons without skipping a bit before LAUSD even figured out what to do, then nearly a full year of Zoom, and now in-person learning with weekly testing. Kids are happy and learn lots. Can't recommend enough!

I recently enrolled my child in the Mandarin Immersion program at Braddock. Since I did my…read moreresearch, I had high expectations of the program, but surprisingly, Braddock has actually surpassed them. Not only do I feel Braddock MI is taking the best approach to individualized student learning (CGI math, writers workshop, etc), I also *very much* appreciate the progressive, light and flexible approach to homework. They get it. Moreover, the MI program is now also an integrated STEM program. Bonus! Putting the educational quality aside though, the absolute best recommendation I can give is this: we've been to three schools before Braddock (two "well-picked" preschools and one other STEAM elementary). My LO hated going to them all. Hated school. Cried when mommy had to leave. You get the picture. Braddock is legit the very first school that my child actually likes going to. The teachers are GREAT with the kids and actually make them excited to learn and be there (between you and me, I've checked in on the classrooms... shhhhh). LO actually walks into school while waving and smiling at me. You can't ask for more than that... bilingual, STEM, progressive, individualized high-quality learning, and a happy kid who's actually excited to go to school.

this school is amazing! I have 2 kids here and this is their 2nd year here they love the staff and…read moreteachers

This school is terrible. It is disgusting, the student to teacher ratio is horrific, and the kids…read moreare foul. At this school, children are using profanity and derogatory language everywhere, including but not limited to slurs. This school also inforces labor on older people. The custodians, both for the elementary and middle schools, are older women. Some of the teachers themselves also use such profanity! Do not send your children here, it will take a turn for the worst.

What a joke this place is. We had to spend hundreds of dollars, go through interviews of us as…read moreparents, interviews of my kid, plus send him to be tested, all so they could tell us we are not going to be accepted. Throughout the process, they acted like they were doing us a favor to even talk to us. Meanwhile, the admissions department at Wildwood was falling all over themselves kissing up to a friend of mine, who happens to be very wealthy and has a well-known last name. Needless to say, her kid was accepted. All this school cares about is admitting rich kids from rich families who will make big donations I viewed some of the classes and was not impressed at all. English consists of a bunch of touchy feely questions, science involves learning how to hug trees, and math was the same exact thing the public schools offer. Waste of time and money, if you ask me.

My children, both currently in high school, have attended Wildwood since kindergarten. This school…read moreis the greatest--from forward thinking leadership, engaging teachers, and stellar programs, to out of box projects, confident students, and much more -- Wildwood is an amazing school where kids receive a brilliant education.

We were part of this school community for many years, beginning when my son was in kindergarten…read more There is a lot to love--the location is wonderful, the parent community is very involved, and we had teachers who genuinely cared and did the best they could. Unfortunately, over the years we watched class sizes become increasingly overcrowded. Our grade went from three classrooms to two, at some point we had 33 kids per classroom and in my experience, the teachers were simply overwhelmed by the number of students and the amount they were expected to manage. This is not a criticism of the teachers--they were put in an impossible situation. When one teacher is trying to teach a very large class while also managing constant behavioral and discipline issues, there simply isn't enough individual attention for every child. In our case, some important academic gaps with my son were not identified until later, which was very disappointing. I don't feel the school was as hands-on academically as we needed it to be. Ultimately, we decided to leave because we were also uncomfortable with the way ongoing discipline and behavioral issues were handled. There is a wonderful community surrounding this school, but unfortunately, for us, the school itself fell short of what our child needed academically and in the classroom environment.

As someone directly impacted by this school's daily operations, I've experienced both positives and…read morechallenges. The school provides a strong presence in the neighborhood and supports students, but the way they handle traffic and maintenance creates major quality-of-life issues for nearby residents. During the school year, parents often block driveways during drop-off and pick-up, making it frustrating for those of us who live here. Even after raising the issue, it continues regularly. On top of that, maintenance teams sometimes use leaf blowers as early as 6:30 a.m., even during the summer months when school isn't in session. It would be a huge improvement if the school scheduled this work at later hours. I respect the school's mission, but I hope they'll consider how their operations impact the surrounding community.

I'm still here with my younger children and honestly the school has lost its magic. It was a domino…read moreeffect starting with the influx of more private school families moving over to Richland with their entitled behavior, then Covid, then a few families with insanely litigious approach to dealing with the staff not meeting their demands. The principal and coordinator both quit because the families became just too much to deal with. We lost a lot of truly wonderful teachers. Now we have a principal who is rude and oblivious and always defensive. She's all talk and no action and has no energy whatsoever. Our former principal, who granted had some shortcomings as well, was such a positive presence on campus. He engaged with families and students in an upbeat and excited manner every day. I wasn't his biggest fan, but the environment that he fostered was really special. We felt like we had a voice. Like he cared what the parents thought. This new principal acts like we as parents are always in the way or annoying her or doing something wrong. She doesn't remember anyone who isn't constantly kissing her behind. I've had many face to face conversations with her and she still never knows who I am or who my children are. We used to be welcome on campus, it was such a warm and loving environment. Now you have to jump through a thousand hoops to get approved to volunteer and for some reason only the select few parents get approved.

We moved to Westdale (Mar Vista) a little over five years ago and I have to say that it has been…read moreamazing to witness the evolution of Richland Avenue over those years. Committed parents, energetic teachers and staff and a dedicated Principal have turned Richland into a hidden gem of a neighborhood school. With about 300 students, Richland provides a comfortable, family-like environment with all of the academic support and encouragement of an Advanced Learning School. We have a learning garden on campus, after school French classes and Arts, Music and Sciences programs. My daughter is in the TK/K class, which she loves. I have to say that as a parent, I don't take for granted the fact that she adores her teachers and says "Bonjour" every time she sees Principal Granade (who knows every students' name). She feels comfortable asking questions, interacting with everyone at our school and is 100% encouraged to be herself. All that and her teachers have above and beyond supported her love of math and science. Just in case it's helpful as a frame of reference, my daughter's first, school experiences were spent at a reputable, private preschool and my entire K-12th grade experience was spent at two, small private schools. Richland is my first public school experience and I truly believe that my daughter is being nurtured, encouraged and challenged academically just as I was growing up.