Larchmont Charter School is a tuition-free and non-sectarian public elementary school. It offers a project-based curriculum to educate the culturally rich and racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse populations served primarily by Van Ness Elementary School and the surrounding neighborhood. By law, enrollment is determined by lottery which is open to all children in California.  

How We Got Here

Larchmont Charter grew out of the dream of a handful of parents to create an alternative neighborhood school within LAUSD. Initially, the project seemed too daunting. This all changed when Lindsay Sturman, one of the Founding Parents, spoke to her longtime friend, teacher and educator Dvora Inwood, who was finishing her graduate education studies at Stanford. Dvora's goal was to move back to Los Angeles and start a charter school.

In an effort to test the waters, we sent an email to the Larchmont Village neighborhood roster. The response was incredible, and through word of mouth and outreach, we built a diverse and dynamic group of Founding Parents committed to working 10-30 hours a week to build the school. In all, hundreds of families have donated over 30,000 volunteer hours and raised over $1,000,000.

To get involved, email Volunteer@LarchmontCharter.org.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of Larchmont Charter School is to provide an experience-centered, inquiry-based learning environment that enables each student to meet the academic challenges of secondary school as well as the social, emotional, and physical challenges of life in and beyond the school walls

A core part of our mission is to create a diverse school. We serve children from all walks of life and aspire to be one of the first mixed socioeconomic schools in Los Angeles, as studies show that all students benefit from economic diversity. Almost 40 percent of our student body is non-white and children at Larchmont Charter speak more than 12 languages at home. Our goal is that at least 40-50 percent of enrolling students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch.

Larchmont Charter is a parent-initiated neighborhood school that is creative, diverse, academically challenging and emotionally nurturing. Ours is a school that embraces and celebrates the diversity of languages and cultures in our urban environment while retaining the close-knit feel of a neighborhood school. We hope to relieve overcrowding and offer families an alternative choice within LAUSD.

Larchmont Charter's educational program is being designed to:

* serve the whole child and foster a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, individual growth, and social responsibility;
* embrace, celebrate and benefit from the diversity of our community and promote family, school, and community partnerships;
* respect, support and empower teachers by providing time for reflection, collaboration and action research focused on student learning.

Larchmont Charter strives to have the essential combination of a research-based, innovative curriculum, parent involvement in school governance and excellent test scores. It emphasizes constructivism in student learning. This form of pedagogy has been supported by research for more than 60 years and has been used in successful schools across the country.

Larchmont Charter's educational philosophy is progressive, hands-on and experience-based. Children, particularly in the lower grades, use concrete manipulatives and experiential learning. Our philosophy draws on the work of John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Lev Vygotsky. Students receive differentiated instruction in response to their different interests and strengths. Our vision involves a process navigated by aligning students' curiosities and questions with academic standards while children learn through the medium of their own experiences.