The Country School

The Country School 5243 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village 818-769-2473 country-school.org @tcsvalleyvillage For more than 75 years The Country School has offered progressive education to students from all over Los Angeles, embracing personalized learning and overall student wellness. Students from transition preschool through middle school enjoy a project-based curriculum and enrichment program. 

Tell us about your upcoming open house events.

For the 2024–2025 school year, our open houses will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 17; Saturday, September 28; Wednesday, October 16; and Saturday, November 16. Bring your child and come see what we’re all about.

Describe your academic focus.

The Country School provides a rich, rigorous academic environment that equips our students for their next phase in life as young scholars and, more importantly, as young people. Our approach focuses on recognizing students’ challenges and harnessing their strengths as a means for academic growth. 

Oftentimes our students operate beyond grade level. Our signature Movers Program is an example of our personalized education, allowing for subject matter acceleration across all grades. If a student is advanced in a particular subject, he/she/they can move up while remaining in a primary class filled with students of their same age and emotional level. 

As part of our holistic approach, we believe students learn best experientially and that magic happens when they are exposed to a variety of new subjects and ideas. We offer an abundance of enrichment courses, including technology, violin, Spanish starting at pre-K, art, rock band, chess, stop-motion animation, theater, sports and so much more! 

Every year, our students go on to attend some of the most prestigious independent high schools in the Los Angeles area. We pride ourselves on helping them and their families reach their goals. But at TCS we are most proud to lead by example, measuring students’ academic understanding and social-emotional health to define our success.

Tell us about your school’s values.

We offer one-of-a-kind, child-centered education. Our curriculum is designed to focus on each child’s strengths with personalized instruction and assessment. We are proud to offer a holistic education, ensuring that our kids reach their academic potential and maximize their full capacity in every walk of life. Our goal is for our students to grow into healthy, happy, empowered adults with the self-confidence to embrace real-world challenges and overcome them. 

The Country School has led the way in providing an equitable and enriching learning environment by actively celebrating the unique cultural identities, expressions and experiences of students, families and staff. We do more than promote diversity, equity, inclusivity and belonging; we practice these principles by seamlessly interweaving them into our classroom curriculum and school culture.

Tell us about your new faculty member.

We are proud to welcome Matt Melnick to The Country School as our new assistant head of academics and wellness. In addition to his strong administrative background, Matt has been an integral leader for The Contentment Foundation—writing and teaching the curriculum behind the Four Pillars of Wellbeing program and integrating these focal points (mindfulness, community, self-curiosity and contentment) and transformative practices in classrooms for over 10 years. The benefits include increased attention spans, greater self-confidence, more positive interactions and conflict resolutions among peers, and enhanced emotional regulation—to name a few. 

This new program is a natural continuation of our commitment to student wellness. Countless studies as well as decades of experience guide our simple philosophy: Kids learn best when they have the tools to manage their stress and anxiety. Kids become their best selves—academically and emotionally—when we are attentive to the needs of the whole child. 

Describe some of The Country School’s notable achievements.

For postsecondary school, our students have gone on to attend the best colleges and universities across the country, including top liberal arts schools. We are committed to helping our students find the right fit for them. We are proud to serve as founding members of The Southern California People of Color in Independent Schools, Private School Village and Private School Axis, which foster greater diversity and belonging in independent schools. 

What wellness programs do you offer? 

For decades The Country School has sought to address the epidemic levels of stress and anxiety our society places on children. We have fostered an environment that “does right by kids” by prioritizing student wellness. We successfully eliminated homework for students in kindergarten through the beginning of fifth grade while enacting a “no cell phone” policy. Both have proven to reduce stress and buy more time for our kids to be kids. Additionally, we teach daily meditation and recentering practices so our children learn how to effectively handle anxiety, with the ultimate goal of cultivating independent and secure teenagers ready to take on the challenges of high school. 

Tell us about your athletics program. 

We pride ourselves on a phenomenal athletics program that competes in the San Fernando Valley Private School League. We offer year-round athletics: boys flag football, basketball, volleyball and soccer, and girls basketball, soccer and volleyball.