Shanél Valley Academy – Free Public School For Hopland

STEAMing Ahead: Igniting
Minds with Innovative Education

Sparking innovation and cultivating well-rounded, life-long learners.

Fostering strong connections, shared values, and a sense of belonging.

Community at the Core:
Education That Builds Bonds

Whole Child, Whole Future:
Nurturing Every Aspect of Growth

Our commitment to holistic education goes beyond academics.

Shanél Valley Academy (SVA)

Championing Education, Cultivating Leaders

At Shanél Valley Academy, learning is personal, purposeful, and deeply connected to the world beyond the classroom. We provide a dynamic, individualized educational experience that integrates family partnership, academic growth, and real-life learning to empower students of all ages. By nurturing each student’s social, emotional, and physical well-being, we develop resilient, compassionate, and well-rounded learners prepared for success in school and in life.

Through Personalized Learning and Project-Based Learning, students gain agency over their education while engaging in rigorous, curiosity-driven experiences rooted in real-world challenges. From hands-on projects and enrichment classes to field trips and community events, SVA inspires students to explore, create, collaborate, and build a lifelong love of learning.

Empower, educate, excel. Bridging gaps in learning.

Shanél Valley Academy (SVA) is a rural TK–6 community school located in Hopland, California. As a tuition-free public charter school, we welcome students from both within and beyond Mendocino County. SVA also offers an on-site State Preschool Program in partnership with the Mendocino County Office of Education State Preschool Consortium.

Where Community & Education Unite

Academic Excellence

We meet each student where they are and create a curriculum that develops them in a community as individuals with unique interests, personalities, and learning styles. We encourage personal expression, independent exploration, and academic excellence by helping define their goals and growth path.

Personalized Learning

Learning is personal and education should be, too. SVA is committed to meeting students where they are academically, socially, developmentally, and nurturing their positive growth through an innovative approach to education so that every student can reach his or her full potential.

Whole Child Approach

Recognizing that each student has diverse needs, we foster holistic development by nurturing their social, emotional, and physical well-being. We aim to cultivate not just knowledgeable minds, but resilient, compassionate, and well-rounded individuals prepared for success in both academics and life.

Project-Based Learning

Combining Personalized Learning with Project-Based Learning unleashes student agency. Students take ownership of their own education. PBL is a rigorous approach to deeper, active learning that challenges students to think critically and work collaboratively to discover solutions to questions grounded in complex, real-world scenarios.

Enriched Learning

Learning goes beyond textbooks. We provide an immersive educational experience where students explore, create, and connect concepts to real-world scenarios. Through hands-on activities, innovative projects, field trips and collaborative initiatives, we inspire a curiosity-driven approach to education to cultivate inspired learners.

Diverse & Inclusive

We believe that the diversity of our communities, and of the world at large, is a source of strength and key to our success in educating culturally empathetic global citizens. SVA students represent uniquely diverse and rich family histories which are celebrated throughout our project-based learning goals and the enviornmental place-based learning we create.

Be a Catalyst for Change. Join Our Team.

At our school, you’ll have the opportunity to inspire young minds, develop creative teaching methods, and be part of a supportive community committed to educational excellence.

What Makes SVA Unique

Our Scratch-Cooked Meal Program

SVA’s food program focuses on procuring local foods, engaging our students in gardening and understanding agriculture, as well as educational activities related to food, health and the environment. We prepare three quality scratch meals daily. These include meals like smoothies and fresh baked breads, and chicken parmesan, while incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables from our school gardens. Breakfast, lunch and afterschool snack are FREE for all students!

MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS ONSITE

Our counseling services include more than a response to a situation that already exists. By building in proactive strategies, including small-group counseling activities and discussions, as well as classroom presentations on topics that promote academic and social-emotional growth, our counselor Ms. Tabitha provides positive examples of behavior students can incorporate in their lives, leading to healthier decisions and more positive actions.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

SVA begins every week with an all-school assembly! These weekly assemblies not only ground the students for the week, but also celebrate and empower them, as well as deepen their connections as a community. Kindergarten leads us in our BEAR song, student leaders share important information, our PBIS team reteaches school expectations through games and videos, and we invite anyone to participate!

Expanded Learning Program

SVA’s Expanded Learning Program is a safe, positive environment that promotes student learning until 5:30pm each day. Our seamless learning experience from school to after school focuses on equitable, whole child learning opportunities. Students have daily access to art, music, STEM, outdoor education and literacy that supports school wide learning and culture goals and is free to all families.

Land Acknowledgement

We of this Academy, named after the Principal Local Indigenous Village of Shanél, acknowledge with honor the Shóqowa and Hopland People on whose traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands we work, educate and learn and whose historical and spiritual relationship with these lands continues to this day and beyond.