Manzanita School, a WASC-accredited K-12 independent college preparatory school located in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles, has announced that admissions are now open for the Fall 2026-27 academic year. Prospective families can submit an inquiry or application through the school's admissions portal, linked from the Manzanita website.
Founded in 2013, Manzanita is among the college preparatory schools in California with an outdoor curriculum, challenging educational paradigms and nurturing the whole child through a distinctive indoor-outdoor learning model. The 21-acre Big Rock Ranch campus blends rigorous academics, land stewardship, and immersive study of local ecology, set at the foot of wild chaparral in what the school describes as "nature's most complex science lab."
Manzanita's whole-child development education is organized into four cohorts: Seeds (Forest Kindergarten, first, and second grades), Roots (third through fifth), Trunk (sixth through eighth), and Branches (ninth through twelfth). Beginning in third grade and continuing through high school, students experience three days of traditional classroom time, known as "Owl Days," balanced with two days of experiential learning on the land, called "Hawk Days," each week.
As one of the creative curriculum private schools in Los Angeles, Manzanita offers programs across English Language Arts, Core Science-Humanities, Mathematics, The Arts, Nature Connection, Stewardship, and Expeditionary Learning. All students participate in overnight expeditions designed to build group unity and provide hands-on experience with their core Humanities or Science curriculum. Expedition destinations for lower and middle school students include the Manzanita campus itself, Sycamore Canyon Campground, Quail Springs Permaculture Farm, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Cottonwood Lakes area of the John Muir Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The school's environmental education programs in California are anchored by a working permaculture farm known as the Living Classroom. Organic, locally sourced lunches and snacks incorporate produce grown on the farm, and students engage in animal care and regenerative agriculture as part of their stewardship studies.
Launched in Fall 2021, Manzanita's Forest Kindergarten takes place entirely outdoors and, according to the school, is based on decades of research into the optimal contexts for young children to develop confidence, curiosity, imagination, a love of the earth, and interpersonal competence. The Forest Kindergarten program is directly aligned with the school's fully accredited nature immersion programs for the upper grades.
The school day begins at 8:30 a.m. for all grades. Class sizes are approximately 12 to 14 students in the Seeds program and about 14 students in the older grades. A current Manzanita parent, quoted on the school's website, said, "Manzanita has provided the ideal educational environment for our children, each of whom has different learning styles and needs. We appreciate the depth of their studies, which serves to foster big-picture thinking and encourages them to ask important questions about the world around them."
Manzanita's approach is particularly relevant as families increasingly seek educational alternatives that emphasize environmental stewardship and holistic development. The school's integration of academics with nature-based experiences offers a model that could influence broader educational trends. For more information, visit Manzanita School's website.
