New Village Academy | |
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Logo of organization
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Location | |
23679 Calabasas Road, Suite 414 Calabasas, California United States |
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Information | |
Type | Private |
Motto | Spiral Up! (motto) |
Established | 2008 |
Closed | 28 June 2013 |
Grades | Pre-kindergarten - Grade 6 |
Head of School | Piano Foster |
Website | nvlacademy.org |
New Village Leadership Academy (NVLA), also known as New Village Academy, was a private elementary school located in Calabasas, California, USA. Indian Hills High School previously used the campus, and in 2008 actor Will Smith funded New Village Academy and leased the Calabasas facilities for three years.
Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith selected the management for the school. Educational methodologies used by the school include Study Technology, Montessori, Gardner, and Bruner methods.
The school shut down on 28 June 2013 and is no longer active.
The school's campus was formerly used by Indian Hills High School, which relocated to Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, California to save money. In 2008, actor Will Smith paid US$890,000 to lease the Calabasas campus for three years, restructuring it from a high school to a private elementary school called New Village Academy. The school is located close to Will Smith's home in Calabasas. In 2004 Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith gave $20,000 to the Scientology home-schooling organization Hollywood Education and Literacy Program (HELP), which is licensed by the non-profit corporation Applied Scholastics.
Prior to New Village Academy, Smith and Pinkett Smith's two children were home schooled by their mother. The school was founded by the Smiths, who say they are not Scientologists, about three years ago as a homeschool for their younger children and those of several other families. Smith and his wife installed their current director of philanthropy, Jana Babatunde-Bey, as the executive director of the school and Jacqueline Olivier as Head of School.