History

Wildwood School was founded in 1971 on Los Angeles's Westside by a dedicated group of parents led by Founding Director Belle Mason. Their desire was to establish an elementary school with a curriculum that was experiential, hands-on, project-based, and that honored individual learning styles. These tenets form the foundation of our current curriculum, one that is developmentally appropriate for all ages and is taught in a supportive and challenging learning environment.

As Wildwood's educational philosophy developed, the school created multi-age primary classrooms in 1987. Called Pods, they provide children ages 5 to 7 with an environment that allows for intellectual, social, and emotional growth through the crucial early years of cognitive development. Our multi-age groupings are ideal for families seeking a developmental approach for their child and serve as a model for educators around the world.

Hope E. Boyd was head of school from 1992-2007. Her 44 years of unwavering focus on the needs of children allowed Wildwood to provide national educational leadership in innovative methods of education and to expand its educational program from an elementary school to a Kindergarten-12th grade program.

Wildwood's elementary school moved to its current site on Washington Place in the Culver City/Mar Vista area in the fall of 1993. The new campus provided a large, well-stocked library and multiple playing fields and allowed the school to deepen and strengthen its curriculum by expanding the arts, science, and technology programs.

In 1997, The Board of Trustees and the Wildwood community committed to the establishment of a secondary program that would make the school K-12 by 2003. The goal of the secondary program was "to be a premier educational institution in Los Angeles and a national model for the best practices of education." The secondary program maintains Wildwood's learner-centered curriculum and incorporates a college preparatory program for middle and high school students.

In September 2000, students in grades seven, eight, and nine were the first to step foot in Wildwood's secondary campus. The award-winning architectural design complements the curriculum by providing discreet learning spaces for each grade and division. In the first year of its secondary program the school received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation acknowledging Wildwood as a model small school. The first senior class graduated in June 2004, and the school now has a full enrollment of 700 students in grades K-12.

In July 2007, Landis Green became head of school. Throughout his 14-year career as an educator, he has been committed to nurturing excellence in education. Landis is a graduate of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and earned his Masters of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Landis states that, "Everything about Wildwood is based on research and common understandings of best practice. Our focus is on developing inquisitive learners empowered to make a difference in the world."