Our Vision

Woodland's vision is to provide students with a safe and nurturing school environment that enables all students to learn to their maximum potential.

Within the boundaries of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, nestled on the corner of Garden and Woodland lanes, lies a small, well-hidden school serving kindergarten through second grade students. Woodland Elementary School (WES) is located on the east side of Costa Mesa in Orange County, approximately five miles from the Pacific Ocean. Within its secluded world, approximately 480 students with diverse ethnicities blend together to form one learning community. WES is a slice of life, a blend of socioeconomic levels, from homeless to highly affluent families. The staff and community value the school’s diversity for the rich environment it provides our students. It is within this rich environment that dedicated teachers, involved parents, and members of the community work together to provide a challenging, well-balanced academic program that meets the needs of all WES students.

Each morning students are greeted by the principal and staff, as they enter the schoolyard on a sidewalk paved with colorful student-crafted tiles. Friday flag decks, multi-cultural assemblies and spirit days serve to unite the school population. WES provides a variety of opportunities for students and families to experience and appreciate personal differences within the school setting. We reach out to families in need, fully include students with learning disabilities into our program, and provide integrated Hearing Impaired and cross-age tutoring programs within the school site. Community involvement is valued at WES and every attempt is made to bring the neighborhood into the school setting by providing family nights, a school carnival, skate and family restaurant nights, a pancake breakfast and used book sale, and book fairs.

WES staff members embrace technology for its benefit to our instructional programs. WES offers a technology lab complete with twenty-two computers and an Active Board used to teach and engage students in their learning. Our school received a Science and Nature grant that has added three mobile computer labs further enhancing teacher instruction and student learning. Each classroom is equipped with a minimum of two computers with Internet access. Computer software programs support the core curriculum. We continue to plan inservice days specifically designed to keep us on the cutting edge of all aspects of technology. School and teacher web pages and blogs are common at WES.

The level of professionalism among WES staff members is noteworthy. Forty-four percent of WES teachers have Masters degrees. Nineteen percent of teachers are BCLAD enabling them to form a partnership with our English Learner families to better meet their academic needs. Professional development in technology is ongoing as teachers meet monthly in Professional Learning Communities to use their knowledge of technolgy to create tools for instruction. On site professional development opportunities and bimonthly grade level meetings support WES teachers’ pursuit of excellence in the classroom.

WES students benefit from many extracurricular programs made possible by our partnership with the Parent Faculty Organization (PFO) and the use of school-wide grants. WES is successful and unique due to our partnerships with the community and our staff’s commitment to pursue excellence. We believe that by learning and working together, our students can become lifelong learners who possess the ability to be thoughtful problem-solvers and responsible citizens.