We at Self-Help believe in economic opportunity for all, and a huge part of creating equal access to opportunity starts way before you sign up for your first bank account – it starts with access to education and schools that work to make a difference
in young kids’ lives.
One such school is Valor Academy Elementary School (VAES), part of the Bright Star Schools family in North Hills, California. In this blog post, we are excited to share about VAES’ impact on their community and the story of their expansion to
provide better educational access for students in their community.
Getting to Know VAES
Valor Academy Elementary School was founded in 2016 to provide families in North Hills, CA with a high-quality public school in their community. It has since grown to serve nearly 400 students from transitional kindergarten through 4th grade and
is available at no cost to anyone who would like to attend.
VAES is a part of the Bright Star Schools network that serves students in need. They foster strong community engagement and provide proactive support for student social-emotional needs through trauma-informed practices. Their curriculum and programming
celebrate student cultures and lived experiences, and they are committed to equity.
In addition to VAES, Bright Star Schools also includes Valor Academy Middle School, Valor Academy High School, and support for students in higher education, which means that students are able to receive support from Bright Star Schools for nearly
twenty years – from kindergarten through higher education!
The culture and values that VAES has developed ensure that they are able to best support those who are part of their community.
Meeting the Needs of Student and Faculty
Valor’s commitment to holistic and proactive support means that they are constantly finding ways to meet the needs of students and faculty around them.
During COVID, many students struggled upon their return to school because they had been taught to stay away from others, which (although necessary) caused students to struggle to connect with others, with themselves, and with their emotions upon
their return to school.
VAES noticed that students seemed to have much more anxiety after the pandemic and implemented a social learning approach using Yale’s RULER program to help support emotional needs of these students. Here are some of the techniques they
established:
A morning circle with a mood meter for students to identify how they're feeling
Mindful breathing after each break to help regulate students upon returning to learning
A calm corner that students can go to when they need a moment to center themselves
Meditation practice that teaches relaxation and breathing techniques
to help manage emotions
Parents have noticed a positive difference in their kids, and students have reported that it helps them when they are experiencing challenging emotions. One student said, “I like to do the hot cocoa breathing. When I’m sad, it helps me. When I’m mad, it helps me. It helps me a lot.”
VAES doesn’t just find ways to help students – Bright Star Schools has partnered with Alder Graduate School of Education to offer instructional assistants the opportunity to receive a teaching credential and master’s degree in one year and become full-time classroom teachers. Veteran teachers at the Bright Star Schools mentor the instructional
assistants by exploring different ways of co-teaching and helping prepare mentees to teach on their own. This focus on career development offers an affordable way to become a teacher at Bright Star Schools.
With community support at the forefront of the VAES philosophy, the next step in providing more effective support for their community was to establish a permanent facility that allows them to expand their accessible educational opportunities.
Establishing (and Expanding) a Home Base
Valor Academy Middle School and Valor Academy High School have beautiful permanent campuses, and now VAES will soon join them! Self-Help believes in the mission of VAES, and we were excited to work with them to provide $10M in New Markets Tax
Credits along with $16.4M in financing for the buildout of a new facility. Their loan with us will fund a new facility that expands the student capacity from 370 to 552 – a 49% increase! The new campus will include 28 classrooms (up
from 16), a multipurpose room with a meal-serving area, outdoor play spaces, and improved administrative areas.
While these stats are exciting to anyone looking to expand their footprint, the approach that VAES has taken to remaining true to the community is even more powerful.
Keeping Community in Mind
With this new home and expansion, VAES has ensured that they are able to better serve their students and community.
With the individualized instruction, rigorous academics, social-emotional support, and rich life opportunities beyond the classroom, VAES has drawn in families who have been willing to travel quite a way to ensure their children have access to these
opportunities. Families, some with limited financial resources, have even taken taxis to ensure their children can get to VAES!
With the new campus, students and families will have a much easier time commuting to VAES by reducing commute time and expenses. Plus, VAES will now be within a mile of Valor Academy Middle and High Schools. Not only will this help families tremendously
who have children at multiple Valor schools, but keeping the schools in close proximity to each other also allows them to continue to create programming that benefits students across grades, such as mentorship programs.
With the increased size of the campus, VAES will also have more room to enroll more students without increasing individual class sizes, and they’ll be able to expand art and enrichment programs and offer additional programs like sports, gardening,
dance, Cub Scouts, robotics, and summer and winter camps.
While all of these features are great news for Valor students and families, Bright Star Schools has also kept the neighboring community in mind as well. Bright Star made sure to gather community feedback by attending community meetings and knocking
on neighbors’ doors to get input, which shaped the plans for the campus.
For instance, on the site of the new campus is a historical home that the neighbors wanted to preserve. Bright Star Schools supported this preservation from the beginning, and their plans have always integrated the home through preservation and restoration.
Not only does this decision respect the wishes of the community, but it allows students to have a piece of history on their campus.
This expansion allows VAES to provide more students with access to high-quality, culturally responsive education that keeps the community in mind. It’s a win for everyone – the school, the community, and, most importantly, the students
– and we are so grateful to be part of the VAES story.
At Self-Help, we are proud to support educational equity in action by working with charter schools that meet the needs of students in their communities. Learn more about our charter school lending here.