Walteria Elementary School

24456 Madison Street

School District

Torrance Unified
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:23
Type

public

School Map for Torrance Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by other on October 09, 2022

I love Walteria Elementary School and am grateful my three sons went here for a great start.I still volunteer many hours here every year though my sons are long graduated I like it so much.
Submitted by parent on November 02, 2019

Excellent staff and principal prepare students for the future
Submitted by parent on August 12, 2018

We feel that our children are safe and taken good care of. We had a very poor experience with the teacher this past year and although we brought it up to the principal, I doubt it will be addressed. We are eagerly awaiting to see how things will work this next year, but so far our experience is an 8 at best. We did have one amazing teacher, Ms. Wix, who has been the highlight of our time in Walteria... The school needs more teachers like her. The cafeteria offers juice boxes for free, but bottled water at a cost... I could not believe it when my kids told me that this is why they are drinking juice, which they never do at home...
Submitted by parent on April 15, 2016

My son has attended Walteria elementary from Pre-K and now he is at 3rd. What we have experienced in this school are all positive - great teachers with excellent caring minds and expertise, wonderful parents actively supporting the class and the school, and awesome and terrific kids! Someone told us that the school has around 25 different language speaking families, so very diversified. (We have multi-cultural night festival in May every two years, a fun and interesting event.) My son's friends' families are typically hard-working successful upper-middle class folks, taking great responsibilities in their careers and have very good common sense. That is really important when my kid does something crazy to other kids (it can happen). If needed, parents can talk in good sincere words with good caring hearts for both families. School teachers & principal support very good about what happening on campus and treat kids with fairness and most educational way. No nonsense I have ever encountered in our past 5 years at the school. We are so blessed about the very good teachers from the beginning at Pre-K, and then Kinder, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. All have different style and characters but one thing in common - they do care about the students and very dedicated to the early childhood education, I am pleased to give all of them 5 stars!Also, we are fortunate to have great volunteers coming to the classes - teaching and sharing various kinds of interesting staffs and stories, not only arts / music but also histories and cultures. Walteria is big about Adventures of Art program, too. One thing to note is that each teacher has different way. Some emphasis on science while others do more social studies. Some give more home works while others give less. So, there are variations but as far as I hear from other parents, there are no less-than-average teacher in the school.There are always some limitations and challenges to the school (such as budget cuts) but we feel unity here at Walteria, teacher - parents - students working together to make the school better, all heading to one good direction. The bottom line - kids enjoy their precious time at Walteria, making solid academic foundation and will be ready for the next and higher schools. Overall, I am very confident about this school and highly recommend this school to all families of any cultural background.
Submitted by parent on October 16, 2014

Moving into the area, I was told that Torrance schools, and Walteria in particular, were excellent, but it didn't take long to see major shortcomings. There is no school bus system. There is no Art, Music, or foreign language curriculum, which is why my child has four recesses. Art and music programs are sponsored by the PTA, but these should be supplemental to the core curriculum, not a substitution. Further, I do not need to be sent notices on the dangers of "entitled" children and giving them what they want when they have four recesses and no creative curriculum. The online presence is amateurish at best. There are four different explanations I've found online and in literature about how to put money into the lunch system, and not one word about how the children are to use the account. My child still hasn't been issued a card after over a month of enrollment. The only emphasis I can see is on academics, but the methodology and execution is suspect, resorting to gimmicks and canned curriculum, and class size is at capacity. Given the apparent lack of resources, I simply do not trust the school to adequately educate my children and will be looking to move soon.
Submitted by parent on August 13, 2013

Just Average....I believe there are a lot of changes that should be made at this school..The principal is rude and is completely controlled by her staff. I believe some of the teachers are just old school. The children are rushed thru their academics an the teachers are tired and over worked. This school is not teaching any new technologies and tends to be the same as it was 20 years ago. I hope they get on board with LAUSD and implement the ipad learning system.... For Torrance a change MUST be made
Submitted by parent on June 17, 2012

I have 3 kids total going through this school. They have some phenomenal teachers and some that probably should not be teaching. The Principle, Mrs Wynhoff, is okay. She tries to work with the parents and supports the school. The office staff are horrible; very messy, unprofessional, and rude! I don't understand why they are allowed to get away with how they treat the kids or the parents! The parents really support the school and try to make up for the cuts to the state budget. My one complaint is the school year starts so late the teachers have to rush through material in order for the kids to learn it for the standardized tests in mid May. It would be better for the kids if they started school a week or two earlier! It seems the moral of the staff at the school is very low in general...don't know if it is tied to budget cuts or poor leadership. This is an average school.
Submitted by parent on March 31, 2011

My son transfered into a school in CO and his test scores were so low that he was held back. He received passing grades from K-4 with no complaints from the Teacher. Nurse is a part-timer and is not there a couple of time a week. Principal is very poor and they need to get rid of and a few of the lower grade teachers.