Welcome to Cerritos School!

Hello Cheetah families; my name is Lauren Stuart and I am excited to serve as the Cerritos School Principal! At Cerritos School, we are a strong, diverse school that feels like a family and recognizes that every student has gifts and ideas that are valuable. Our school focuses on the needs of the whole child and ensures that all students build the confidence to achieve growth academically as well their social emotional skills. Cerritos provides a solid foundation in math, and literacy, as well as art and STEM. At Cerritos School, we believe in giving every child a chance every single day to reach their full academic, social and emotional potential. We believe that parents are important partners in supporting students on their academic journey as they learn to be reflective and engaged learners. Our staff of committed and caring educators work in partnership with families to ensure all students receive the support they need to excel.

At Cerritos School, we follow four core values, respect, organization, accountability, and resiliency. Beginning in our transitional kindergarten classes, we work to model and teach our core values through school-wide flag ceremonies, special events put on by PTA and school award ceremonies. During class, teachers highlight the importance of being a person of character and the need to make good choices through our Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum. Students are recognized monthly for their outstanding behavior at our monthly flag ceremonies. Our goal at Cerritos is to equip our students with the skills and mindset to thrive and take on the world.

Cerritos School's Instructional Program

Our instructional strategies and practices are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Our students are provided with a high caliber learning experiences in a caring and nurturing environment so that students feel valued and respected. We desire that all of our students develop and maintain a love for learning!  We are continuing our focus on Benchmark Advance, including working with students toward mastering academic vocabulary, becoming fluent readers with analytical thinking skills, and communicating effectively through writing.  These are critical to a student’s continued success in their educational journey! 

Creating engaged and reflective students is our focus here at Cerritos. We are a community of caring people whose goal is to create a safe and nurturing environment where students feel included, respected and valued. Our dedicated staff is committed to upholding these expectations by being proactive in addressing student needs and concerns. We will teach, model and expect students to R.O.A.R. – To be Respectful, Organized, Accountable, and Resilient as we begin the new school year.

We look forward to a fantastic school year with our Cheetahs!

Mrs. Lauren Stuart, Cerritos School Principal

Mrs. Lauren Stuart will continue her fifth year as the principal of Cerritos School during the 2023-24 school year. Mrs. Stuart has worked in education for nineteen years in a variety of different compacities. She started in the Savanna School District when she was hired as a teacher at Hansen School in 2015. During her time as a teacher at Hansen, she has held the role as a second grade teacher, the Title I academic support teacher for grades K-6^th and the Title I behavior support teacher. In addition to teaching, she also served as the District’s Summer Academy Principal for several years, as well as the Lead Teacher for Saturday Academy. These experiences, as well as her dedication to the Savanna community, prepared her well to assume the role as Cerritos School Principal. 

Mrs. Stuart earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. She went on to obtain her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education with an emphasis in best practices from National University.

Mrs. Stuart lives in Orange County with her husband Riley and their two cats, Fred and George. She enjoys going to Disneyland, attending movies, hiking, and going on wild animal adventures on her quest to hold as many different kinds of animals as possible.  

Mrs. Stuart is so excited to start another year at Cerritos School and to continue all the amazing programs that Cerritos has to offer. This year Cerritos teachers will not only be focusing on academics but also social emotional learning to help foster a safe learning environment for all students, so that they can be academically successful.