Southeast DREAMS Magnet

South Gate High School has served the South Gate community within Los Angeles Unified for generations, and our Rams have a long championship history that goes back to the 1955 city football title. We serve grades 9 to 12 and run a magnet program on campus. Students choose from Advanced Placement courses, career technical education, JROTC, world languages and the arts. Our special education program and intervention center support students who need additional help, and teachers post office hours and tutoring for students. After school, the ARC Afterschool Program offers activities on campus, and our athletics program fields teams from flag football and esports to golf, tennis and track and field. Families can attend workshops offered in English and Spanish, and we connect students with LAUSD mental health support.

South Gate Middle School, home of the Vikings, is a Los Angeles Unified campus on Firestone Boulevard whose programs include the South Gate STEM Magnet, a 6th grade STEAM Linked Learning program, a Dual Language program and Gifted and Talented Education (GATE). Families apply to the magnet and dual language programs through LAUSD's choices application. We hold a six-year WASC accreditation, and as a Verizon Innovative Learning School every student is issued an iPad. Our 65 teachers cover English, math, science, history, physical education and electives, and students can join 18 clubs as well as Leadership and Yearbook. Partners include Project Lead The Way, VEX Robotics and TreePeople. In science classes, all grades work through the Second Step social-emotional curriculum, covering empathy, bullying prevention, emotional management and problem solving. Students with IEPs are supported by resource specialist teachers and a special education coordinator, and IEP meetings are held in person or virtually. A psychiatric social worker staffs our school mental health office, counselors see students on request, and an English Learner program and a Family Center with parent workshops add support for families.

In September 1941, eight Sisters of Notre Dame opened St. Helen School by teaching 368 students inside the original St. Helen Church in South Gate, because wartime shortages delayed the new building until that December. Since then more than 6,300 students have passed through our classrooms. Today we are a parish school of St. Helen Church under the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, enrolling children from preschool at age 3 through 8th grade. Our youngest Bruins start in a licensed, full-day Pre-K with a play-based curriculum, daily prayers and an afternoon nap, then move into a full-day transitional kindergarten focused on reading, writing and math readiness. Kindergarten has a full-time teacher with a half-day aide, follows Common Core and NGSS, and pairs each child with an 8th-grade buddy for weekly Mass. Students in kindergarten through 8th grade study religion, math, language arts, social studies, science, physical education, art, music and technology, in classes averaging 25 students with iPads and projectors in every room. Daily after-school tutoring and enrichment give extra help or extra challenge. Many families receive reduced tuition, and admission gives preference to St. Helen parishioners.