Grades 1-5 FAQs

Please don't hesitate to ask a member of the Admission staff about the space situation in these grades. Because we are committed to maintaining a low student to teacher ratio as well as an intimate atmosphere in our Primary and Lower Schools, we maintain small class sizes throughout the School.

It's not unusual for a handful of spaces in these grades to become available each year. Viewpoint's families typically experience a high level of satisfaction with our program, so retention of students to these grades is high. Still, a small number of families may leave us because they move elsewhere. We welcome qualified new children to these grades when spaces arise that need to be filled.

Yes! Click here to submit an inquiry, schedule a tour, and RSVP for our fall admission events. If you don’t see a time that works for your family, give us a call at 818-591-6560 or drop us a line at admission@viewpoint.org, and we’ll get back to you promptly. 

We need:

• Application for Admission.
• Application Fee of $125.
• A copy of the child's birth certificate.
• A recent photograph of the applicant (requested, not required).
• A recent photograph of the applicant and parents together (requested, not required).

As part of our admission process, we request confidential principal and English and mathematics teacher evaluation forms from your child's current school to be completed and sent to us. You can send digital copies to the educators of your choosing via the Parent Portal after you have submitted an application. You are also welcome to use the downloadable copies of blank paper forms located on the Apply page.

Parents of applicants to Grades One through Five should distribute the Administrator's Evaluation, the Teacher’s Evaluation, and the Consent for Release of Information form with the parents’ portion completed to the child’s current school after December 1. The educators completing these forms should return them directly to Viewpoint School by January 15.

The Consent for Release of Information form, signed by you, and given to your child's current school, will permit them to release your child's academic records to us.

One of the activities we most look forward to is our visits with our youngest applicants. All applicants to Grades One through Four get to spend a little bit of time with us in a special testing session that helps us get a sense of their academic fit for our elementary program. The testing day is held annually on campus in February, after we've had the chance to meet with an applicant family in the office.

Applicants complete assessments administered by Viewpoint's teachers that mirror those given to our current students and that measure both academic achievement (learned classroom knowledge) and aptitude. In addition, other areas are considered and observed by our teachers, such as cognitive development, attention span, ability to focus, maturity, and positive social interaction.

Once we receive an application for admission, we will contact you to arrange the testing day for your child. We will, of course, work with you if an alternate day needs to be arranged due to your schedule.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it presents for our prospective families, it is likely that we will be modifying this requirement and using alternative means to capture this information. Updates to our process for applicants to the 21-22 school year will appear here. 

Due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic and the significant and varied challenges it presents for our prospective families, Viewpoint has modified our admission process for the 21-22 year to adopt a test optional policy regarding the ISEE or SSAT. We want to ensure that our process remains equitable during this time of stress for families, as well as uncertainty over potentially limited access to standardized assessment sittings. 

This is in keeping with recent shifts in higher education, as college admission offices across the country are in the process of reexamining the use of standardized testing. The policy change allows our applicants to decide for themselves whether or not taking an at-home version of either the ISEE or SSAT would provide an accurate reflection of their academic ability and potential.

For now, this change, which reflects the exigencies of the time, applies to students applying to the 21-22 school year only.

For more information about the ISEE and SSAT, click the links below.  

• www.iseetest.org. (Viewpoint’s school code is 050423).  
• www.ssat.org (Viewpoint’s school code is 7940).

We consider scores from either exam equally. Additionally, students may sit for these tests more than once if they like. They can also sit for both if they wish. 

Applicant Family Meetings occur on schooldays once we have received the Application for Admission, and prior to your child's scheduled Screening Day. We ask that both parents and the child attend the family meeting. Families will be able to schedule their Family Meeting via the Parent Portal starting in late October. It is likely these appointments will be conducted via Zoom for the upcoming admission cycle. 

We would like your child to show us something during the meeting that is of great interest to them (or a picture representing it) that they can share with us. This could be a book, a piece of artwork, a picture of a family member or pet, a piece of memorabilia, anything at all that is meaningful to them. We find that this is often the most fun part of getting to know the uniqueness of your child.

As a general rule, Viewpoint's students tend to be on the older side for their grades, because our students entering Kindergarten are either six or are turning six years old.

This means that Viewpoint students who are in First Grade are either seven or turning seven; Second Grade: either eight or turning eight; Third Grade: either nine or turning nine; Fourth Grade: either ten or turning ten; Fifth Grade: either 11 or turning 11.

When we review applicants to Grades One through Five, we look very carefully at each child's date of birth to be certain that there is the likelihood of a peer match should they join us in the grade.

Each applicant is considered as an individual, but we do engage parents in conversation when we see applicants whose birthdays fall far outside the range of other children in that Viewpoint grade. On occasion, we may recommend placement in a lower grade should the testing results and the child's birthdate indicate this might be a better match.

Candidates for admission to Grades K-8 whose applications were submitted by December 15, 2020 will receive the decision on March 12, 2021, in keeping with the deadlines established citywide the the Los Angeles Consortium of Admission Directors. Those families whose children have been admitted have until March 22, 2021 to reply to our offer of admission

Qualified candidates to Grades One to Five may sometimes receive an initial letter placing them in the Wait Pool, if no spaces in these grades have opened by March. It is not unusual for spaces to become available later on, in the coming weeks and months.

Therefore, any interested family with a qualified child for admission should not hesitate to accept a spot in the Wait Pool. They may receive good news later on, when a spot suddenly opens!

Financial Aid is awarded based solely upon demonstrated financial need, and is awarded without regard to sex, race, religion, or national or ethnic origin. However, because Financial Aid at Viewpoint is a limited resource, the awarding process favors qualifying families with students who are enrolled in the higher grade levels, rather than the lower grades.

Viewpoint is proud to be a family-oriented community enriched by many families with more than one child at the School. We are committed to working closely with our current parents to determine if Viewpoint School is the best match for each of their children. We recognize that no one school is the perfect match for every child. Thus, our goal in the admission process is to enroll children who will find personal and academic success at Viewpoint.

To this end, Viewpoint gives priority in the admission process to siblings of currently enrolled students under the following conditions:

1. Provided all other factors are equal and the sibling is academically qualified to enter Viewpoint.
    
2. Provided the family has maintained a positive relationship with the School, supporting its programs, policies, teachers, and administrators, including its fundraising programs.
    
3. Provided there is space available in the grade to which the child is applying. Keep in mind that Viewpoint's entry grades are Kindergarten, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Grades. A sibling who is qualified for admission but applying to a grade other than these may be placed in the Wait Pool if no spaces open. We cannot ever guarantee the availability of spots in a non-entry-point grade.

Please note that we encourage all our Viewpoint families to apply to several schools since we cannot ever guarantee admission for any applicant.

The application deadline for siblings of current students applying to any grade is December 15, the same as for all other candidates.