The Children’s School is now part of Northeastern University!

Coming into the 2022-23 school year, we continue the same strong mission that we have carried for the last 95 years as a laboratory school, educating and caring for children ages 0-10 in service of our adult learners. We do so with our exciting new identity as the Mills College Children’s School at Northeastern University.

Located on 135 lush acres in Oakland, California, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Children’s School has been a model for excellence in child-centered education for over 95 years as part of the Mills College School of Education. The oldest laboratory school on the West Coast, the Children’s School serves children in four developmentally-appropriate programs: Toddler, Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, and K-5 Elementary.

Our Programs

Mills College Children’s School is a special place. A place where teaching and learning are respected, documented, and celebrated. A place that holds relationship-based, social learning, and constructivism at the core. A place that values diversity with respect to race, language, religion, and cultures of the families in our community.  A place where children develop their own voices and learn that they make a difference in the world. A place where this model of education starts in our Toddler classroom and carries all the way through Fifth Grade. Here, our students are teachers just as our teachers are learners.

Admissions Process

The decisions you make for your child’s education can have important consequences for your entire family. We appreciate the opportunity to give you information about our philosophy, curriculum, and mission during our admissions season from November-February each year. We welcome inquiries and accept applications all year round, as space allows.