School Vision and Mission
The wooded, twelve-acre rectangle that includes Wheeler Park and Vista del Valle Elementary School has been a Claremont community neighborhood anchor since 1953. Nestled just one block off Indian Hill Boulevard, Vista del Valle is a school with a clear vision and purpose. Eighteen months of intensive self-examination (ask to see Voices from the Inside) and more than fifty years of pioneering work in early childhood education have forged this vision and mission. Vista del Valle Elementary has always been a pioneer in the search for a community of learners.
Our school is a family-oriented, academic environment in which we celebrate the diversity that we all bring to school on a daily basis. We believe that classroom instruction should be joyful and rigorous. We believe that children should be safe to and from campus and during the entire school day. We also believe that we must do all we can to cultivate and maintain positive relationships between parents, students, staff and community volunteers.
The Vista staff and community believes that nothing is more important than-
Relationships
We must work hard to cultivate a sense of community. We are all responsible for all the kids. We are all (teachers, staff, administration, parents, students, extended family, community members) in this together. Developmental Assets research and team training, Community Circles, Special Friends, buddy reading, student-led conferences, Young Authors Conferences, outdoor science school, and Multicultural Day are just a few of the ways we have focused on building relationships. Once a Vista kid, always a Vista kid! is our mantra.
Safety
We must all feel physically, emotionally and psychologically safe to come to school every day, ready to teach and ready to learn, to do our best, to give it our all, to take learning risks and to dare to question incongruities in our world. Current events focus groups, our links to the city of Claremont's Youth and Family Support Center, Multicultural Day, team teaching, small class sizes in the primary grades, and Community Circles are just a few of the specific activities to build that sense of safety and connectedness.
Joy and Rigor in Learning
All students and teachers work hard, and expect and appreciate high standards of work. Hard work pays off! Learning must be engaging, powerful and involving, and can always be made to be fun and joyful too. Three years of training for all staff with the California Reading and Literature Project have prepared us to more effectively adopt a new language arts program and offer a balanced reading program with on-going assessments to monitor student progress through the year. Most of the RESULTS assessments remain in use today as part of our grade level multiple assessments.
We also believe and have every expectation that we shall all be successful; each and every person matters; learning occurs in multiple ways; we are a reading, writing and thinking place; and kids are not afraid to try new things.
A few of our goals for the 2006-2007 school year are to:
- maintain a learning climate where respect, self-discipline and self control reign;
- continue to pay extra attention to building a better two-way bridge of communication, understanding and involvement between home and school;
- help all students who enter school learning English as a second language acquire English fluency and literacy in a natural, progressive manner and be academically successful;
- assure that all students will write daily for a purpose and progress as writers; and
- apply our best assessment and teaching so that all students do learn to read, write and speak with fluency, preciseness and understanding.
The spirit that is Vista del Valle is one which neighbors, parents and former students tell us has existed in many forms, but always with the conviction that learning must be joyful and rigorous and cannot be done isolated or in a vacuum. Our outdoor teaching areas like the Bernard Field Station, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, the visit from Fruit Tree Tour 2006 and our new orchards, the Pomona College Farm, the sundial, the riparian environment, the peace pole, the raised bed vegetable, flower and water gardens, Roxaboxen West, the native plant area and the wrap-around murals are there to invite inquiry, provoke curiosity, and encourage creativity and the application of critical life skills. Our doors are always open. Nearly 300 community volunteers helped us during the 2005-2006 school year. Parents are welcome as observers, volunteers, classroom helpers and critical friends. It takes vision, flexibility and a commitment from teachers, parents, students and a community of friends to keep the magic alive. The world's too small and student needs are too great to have to go it alone. Feel free to call us at 398-0331 to learn more about ways you can help.