Our School

Welcome to Los Cerritos Elementary

Los Cerritos Elementary is a quaint elementary school serving the diverse Virginia Country Club and Bixby Knolls communities of Long Beach. Our school is part of the greater Long Beach Unified School District and has been celebrated as a National Green Ribbon School and a California Distinguished School as recently as 2018. We have a long history here of strong community building activities, traditions, and an enhanced family atmosphere. The school is also in a quiet, park-like setting, with a flourishing school garden that we call the "Urban Farmyard." Teachers and children form strong relationships that serve and support each student’s academic and social needs. We value and respect all Los Cerritos members; staff, students, families, and community volunteers.

Our school prides itself on our deep commitment to best instructional practices. All teachers at Los Cerritos are highly-qualified and trained to utilized research-proven strategies that support student success in the Common Core and all academic subjects. We constantly look at student work, achievement data, and overall social-emotional well-being of students to help continuously renew our efforts to do what's best for kids.

Thanks to the support of our PTA we have a wonderful Garden Program that allows for partnerships between teachers, students, volunteers, and the Ground Ed organization to learn and grow together in the outdoor science setting of the Urban Farmyard. The PTA also supports our Visual and Performing Arts program by providing us with the Studio Art program and workshops to support students participating in the annual National Reflections Art program.  The Los Cerritos Safe and Civil Schools Committee focuses on creating a supportive and encouraging environment for students. They established the Los Cerritos student Guidelines for Success, many of our common-area expectations, and they run an ongoing campaign for kindness with Student Council. Thanks to their work, any campus visitor will be greeted by kind words from students of all ages and colorful posters celebrating positive interactions & character traits. Other wonderful programs and activities offered at Los Cerritos are student council, instrumental and vocal music. We are also able to offer our students many field trips and assemblies related to their academic standards and the Visual and Performing Arts. 

We strongly encourage and value parent participation through our Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS) program where adults can volunteer in classrooms, the office, garden, valet parking, field trips, or to help prepare materials for children. Additionally, family members participate in our PTA to support our school through fundraising, volunteering, and organizing social events. Did you know anyone can apply to Volunteer in Public Schools? Maybe your days of parenting young children are in the past, but you'd still like to enjoy the rewards of helping kids learn and grow! Or maybe you're just looking for a new way to get involved with your Los Cerritos Community. If this sounds like you, or you'd just like to pitch in, come see our school secretary about becoming a VIPS and/or about our new Adopt a Grandparent program.

Overall, Los Cerritos is a wonderfully green community, rich with a diverse student body,  highly committed and skilled teachers, and a rigorous challenging curriculum that meets individual student needs.

There is a Los Cerritos Pledge that students say every morning after the flag salute, and the last line of this pledge says "Los Cerritos is a better place because of me." Those words are so true because our school wouldn't be the amazing place it is without each and every student, teacher, parent, and community member that the school belongs to.