Berkeley Hall School (BHS) is a coed independent school for Nursery through eighth grades located on 66 acres off

Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura counties is n ...

near the

405 Freeway Interstate 405 (I-405, locally referred to as the 405) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. The entire route is known as the northern segment of the San Diego Freeway. I-405 is a bypass auxiliary ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, US. The school is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC).

History and background

Berkeley Hall was founded in 1911 by educators Leila and Mabel Cooper. Leila Cooper was a popular teacher at the

Westlake School for Girls Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

before leaving to open her own school at the urging of Westlake parents. Both Leila and Mabel Cooper were

Christian Scientists A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

. According to its website, it is currently nonsectarian and does not teach religion, and says it is committed to its "founding values" in its approach to education. In earlier years, students and their families were expected to practice the religion of Christian Science. Today, they are a diverse community in which all religious backgrounds are welcome. Berkeley Hall School was the first

coed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

independent elementary school in

. The other existing private schools – Harvard School (boys), Westlake School (girls) and Marlborough School (girls) – were single-sex. Berkeley Hall was named after

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...

, the first gated community on the West Coast. It was across the street from the school's first campus which was located in what is now the historic West Adams district. The area was marked by tree-lined, upper-class neighborhoods, linked to downtown by electric streetcars. In 1913, the school moved to a larger facility on 4th Avenue in the same district. Ten years later, a committee of parents and friends began searching for a new location to accommodate an expanding enrollment. The committee secured money from 20 families to purchase a 70-acre farm known as the Rodeo Land and Water Co. in the village of Beverly Hills. 77 acres were purchased, including lots on Wilshire Blvd north of Burton Way and from Doheny to Clark Drive. Parents began subdividing & selling the lots and saved 10 acres for the school. In 1925, Berkeley Hall School moved to its Swall Drive campus in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

where it remained for 51 years. In 1976, the school purchased its current 66-acre campus on

. In the fall of 1980, Berkeley Hall School opened its doors to serve the Westside of Los Angeles and the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

. Current tuition is about $39,480/year.

Administration

The Head of School since 2023 is Dr. Sarah Colmaire.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 34.128230, -118.483430, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Schools in Los Angeles County, California 1911 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1911