Establishing the Balmer School, she used a one-room cottage on Coast Boulevard as a makeshift schoolhouse for four students and three teachers.

[3] Balmer, an alumna of Bryn Mawr College, was an expert on the Winnetka Plan, a learning model that advocated for innovative pedagogies in the classroom, expanding education to include creative activities and an emphasis on the socioemotional development of each child.

[3] By 1942, the Balmer School expanded, eventually holding classes in kindergarten through fifth grade in Wisteria Cottage, which had been redesigned by famed architect Irving Gill and is now the home of the La Jolla Historical Society on Prospect Street.

The young Yale alumnus established the school’s official colors as white and blue (inspired by his alma mater), added a French language program, offered optional uniforms, and started a letterman sweater day on Fridays.

Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, addressed the first graduating class as commencement speaker and revisited the campus 20 years later to dedicate the student-built observatory.

[9] The school has 55 varsity, junior-varsity (JV) and club sports teams, including football, cheerleading, basketball, field hockey, rock climbing, lacrosse, tennis, cross country, track & field, soccer, baseball, softball, volleyball, swimming, surf, sailing, dance, and yoga.

The Upper School offers 17 introductory courses in the arts and 15 AP, advanced, honors and student-run classes.