Our School
Walnut Elementary School
Our School Vision is to provide all students with a quality education in a safe, positive environment that motivates them to be critical and creative thinkers. As a result of our high expectations, consistent communication, and collaborative activities, students will develop the necessary skills to become independent learners in a global society.
Mission: All students will be academically and personally successful.
Walnut School is located at 4701 Walnut Street in the city of Baldwin Park. The school sits on the northwest side of the city one block south of Olive Middle School. Our school serves about 550 students in Transitional Kindergarten through fifth grade. We offer a variety of academic programs on site as well as parent workshops and professional development training. Our student population includes 83.7% Socio-Economically Disadvantaged, 37.2% English Learners, and 0.5% Foster Youth. All programs offered are designed to meet the diverse needs of our entire school community. Our school community promotes instruction of content standards through 21st Century Skills such as communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Teachers meet regularly in grade level teams to identify key standards and share effective instructional strategies for ensuring mastery of standards by all students as part of a Professional Learning Community. Teachers analyze assessment data to help drive instruction and they share their findings with colleagues, parents, and students. Teachers continue to improve instructional programs through the implementation of research-based strategies, articulation meetings, and continual self-reflection based on site and district common assessments in addition to state assessments to help plan and adjust instruction for students. Students demonstrate pride in their academic performance as evidenced by their drive to succeed and meet the desired goals. In addition, students, parents, and staff demonstrate a strong allegiance to Walnut School and are committed to making sure each child is successful. Lastly, our Walnut School families have two after-school program options on our campus called Think Together and Basics (this program offers a before school program option). The Walnut Staff is focused on teaching positive social behaviors through PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports). The purpose of school-wide PBIS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm. We believe in introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior as an important step of a student’s educational experience. We teach students SOAR (Show Responsibility, Offer Help, Act Safely, Respect Others) as school-wide behavioral expectations and recognize students for following them as a positive approach. Student Council activities, monthly academic awards assemblies, educational field trips and assemblies, and after-school clubs contribute to positive school culture. In a Multi-Tiered System of Support, an RTI (Response to Intervention) approach is used to help “at risk” students with additional support during the school day in order to differentiate and diversify instruction. Other resources include a School Study Team and Student Attendance Review Team in order to address four possible problem areas such as academic, behavior, health, and attendance.
Our outstanding K-5 Dual Language Spanish Program offers students an opportunity to become bilingual, bi-literate and bi-cultural by the end of fifth grade. In 2016, the Dual Language Spanish Program at Walnut Elementary School was one of three schools in California awarded the Seal of Excellence by the California Association of Bilingual Education.