Transforming Learning: Westside Neighborhood School planning new campus

By Bridgette M. Redman

Playa Vista’s Westside Neighborhood School has witnessed its dreams come true — dreams that will transform the school and provide enriched learning experiences for its students.

For 44 years, the private, independent, accredited school has been educating preschool through eighth-grade students in leased buildings, most recently in three campuses on Beethoven and Coral Tree Place. With a recent purchase, they will open a new campus in 2026 on a property just 600 feet away from their current buildings.

The new campus is a 132,000-square-foot building on a 5-acre property that will allow Westside Neighborhood School to consolidate two of its buildings — currently totaling 66,000 square feet — into a campus that will provide more and larger classrooms, expanded outdoor learning and play spaces and dedicated spaces to collaborative learning and the arts.

Westside Neighborhood School’s Head of School Brad Zacuto said the school board has been working on the purchase for some time. The availability of the property at 5340 Allo Road was everything they wanted and more — and it was an affordable purchase made possible by California tax-exempt municipal bonds.

“We have worked for over 10 years to position WNS to take advantage of a unique opportunity if and when it might occur to own our school property, and this opportunity exceeds all our expectations,” Zacuto said. “This is a transformational moment for WNS that will help secure the financial sustainability and capacity for essential programmatic growth of the school for generations of preschool to eighth-grade students to come.”

The move is expected to secure the school’s future, giving it greater control over its space, the related expenses and its sustainability. Accrediting bodies had long recommended the move.
Westside Neighborhood School will close the two buildings on Beethoven Street once the new campus has opened. Students will continue to attend classes there, so their education will not be interrupted.

Westside Neighborhood School will continue to lease the building housing the WNS North Campus, in part because renovations have created state-of-the-art facilities like the Early Childhood Center, North Gym and STEM Academic Center. With developmental kindergarten moving to the new campus, there will be more room for preschoolers.

The purchase was finalized in May after seven months of research, negotiation and securing funding. Between now and December, Westside Neighborhood School will secure permits and finalize the internal and landscape design so that ground can be broken on construction in early 2025. The grand opening is planned for fall of 2026.

Zacuto listed many benefits the new building will have for its students and staff, including:

• Larger classrooms with abundant natural light from windows and skylights

• More space for collaborative, project-based learning

• Additional classrooms for the elementary school, enabling smaller class sizes by providing three classes for each grade in kindergarten to fifth

• Larger developmental kindergarten to eighth-grade classrooms; they will go from the current average of 400 to 600 square feet to 700 to 1,000 square feet

• Outdoor learning patios adjacent to all developmental kindergarten to fourth-grade classrooms

• Expanding programming for the visual and digital arts, multimedia arts, filmmaking, robotics, instrumental music, dance and theater

• Expanded outdoor play space, including an eventual playing field

• Moving developmental kindergarten classes next to kindergarten classes to create an educational hub for those students

• A secure campus in a quiet area of Playa Vista

• Increased parent and faculty parking

“We hope this move demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the neighborhood of Playa Vista, where we’re excited to grow our legacy and continue to call this beautiful, innovative part of Los Angeles home,” Zacuto said.

Westside Neighborhood School serves more than 50 ZIP codes across the city. They are dedicated to being an inclusive and diverse school. More than 55% of their students identify as people of color, 51% of the faculty and staff identify as people of color. Each year, they commit more than $3 million toward financial assistance.

“What sets WNS apart is our unwavering commitment to diversity, not just ethnic and racial diversity but also socioeconomic and geographic diversity,” Zacuto said. “It is so important that WNS continues to represent the rich tapestry of diverse people from all walks of life that make up our city, while at the same time providing an outstanding education and creating future ‘changemakers’ who are equipped and empowered to create, innovate and affect positive social change.”

Zacuto said Westside Neighborhood School sets high standards for teaching and it is constantly seeking out learning methods that will serve its students. He said they often serve as a lab for other schools that come to them to learn from their collaborative and project-based teaching methods.

The new building will have community meeting spaces as well.

With the new campus set to open in 2026, Westside Neighborhood School is poised to continue its legacy of providing top-tier education in an inclusive and diverse community. As Zacuto and his team prepare for this transition, the school community will continue to explore expanding opportunities for its student body.