Oak Knoll Elementary School

Making students feel part of one big family

Oak Knoll Elementary School, a co-ed in Menlo Park, California, USA, promotes emotional and mental wellbeing from the moment students walk through the door and are greeted with a student-led morning news broadcast set up by the school counsellor. The broadcast ends with the words "Together, we are Oak Knoll", reinforcing students’ sense of camaraderie and closeness. During the pandemic, KNOL switched to a new phrase: "Together or Apart, we are Oak Knoll''.

This ethos runs throughout everything the school does. Catering to over 600 children from diverse communities, Oak Knoll Elementary School has worked hard to ensure all its students feel included and valued. Teachers greet their students by the door each day by name, breakfast is provided for whoever needs it and the school counsellor works closely with every class to build resilience and emotional support. The institution is guided by the principle that everyone within the school is part of one big family and in order to support students in their endeavours, both they, the parents and the wider community need to be nurtured as well.

This work is supported by the myriad programmes Oak Knoll Elementary School runs such as a mental health centre that helps families, small scholarships to allow students who come from lower resourced communities to participate in after-school clubs, and gift cards that are given out during the holidays that are used in grocery stores. The Silicon Valley Bike Exchange provides bikes to students who request them and the school partnered with their local bookstore Kepler's so each classroom mirrored the diversity in its community with material that is diverse in its characters and storylines.

If Oak Knoll Elementary School were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Supporting Healthy Lives, it would use the money to add a nature playground for its Kindergarten and Preschool students. The funds would also be allocated to expand the school garden and enable other students in higher grades to plant peppers, tomatoes and vegetables to be used in school meals.