How to Get Your Child Into High School

At Turning Point, our parent community brings wisdom, candor, and heart to every corner of school life, and this reflection by Grade 8 parent Meredith Gordon Hochberg is no exception. In it, she beautifully captures what makes a Preschool–Grade 8 education so powerful: not just the milestones our students reach, but the values they carry with them—the sense of identity, belonging, and purpose that is cultivated over time.

Enjoy,
Laura

How to Get Your Child Into High School

By Turning Point School Parent, Meredith Gordon-Hochberg

In just a few weeks, I… I mean my daughter… will graduate from Turning Point. Our older son—now a junior in high school—started at Turning Point in first grade, and both of our kids have completed middle school here. We’ve been dropping off and picking up at this school for 11 years. For our family, saying goodbye to Turning Point feels like saying goodbye to the most stable relationship we’ve had in Los Angeles, other than our own.

Throughout my time as a parent here, I’ve been asked more times than I can count what middle school at Turning Point is like. That question is almost always followed by the inevitable: “Will my child get into the high school of their choice if we stay through eighth grade?”

I always respond the same way, honestly: “You’re asking the wrong question.”

As a parent at a Preschool–8 school, it’s impossible not to have “Will my kid get into high school?” worries. If you’re concerned about the implications of staying at a P–8 independent school in a city that’s mostly made up of K–6 and K–12 options, you should pat yourself on the back. There is nothing any of us cares about more than educating our children. Your worry reflects the magnitude of that decision.

But the real question isn’t whether your child will get into this high school or that high school.The real question is: “Who do I want raising my child?”

Starting in middle school—and continuing into high school—your child will often spend more time with their friends and community than with you. The single most important decision you can make is choosing the environment in which they’ll grow. That community will help raise your child as much as you will.

For Justin and me, when we thought about where our children would go to school—especially during those awkward, long-faced middle school years—we didn’t see school as just a stepping stone. We saw it as a community that needed to reflect and reinforce our family values. Once we made peace with that idea, we worried less about “what’s next” and focused more on who we were entrusting with our children in the now.

Both of our children got into their first-choice high schools—our son to Brentwood and our daughter to Marlborough. They had multiple acceptance options when admissions decisions were released. We didn’t have letters of recommendation from well-connected family friends, nor did we know anyone on either school’s board. We didn’t hire an admissions consultant (and, to my knowledge, neither did most families in their grades). We didn’t make a donation to improve their odds. They applied to schools that were a good fit—and presented themselves as they are: curious, intelligent, lovely, funny, and imperfect.

But when I drive out of the Turning Point parking lot and onto Wesley for the last time in a few weeks, I won’t be thinking about where they’re going next. I’ll be feeling grateful for where they’ve been.

We’ll carry with us a deeply connected extended family—moms and dads, siblings and friends—who’ve treated my children like their own. Getting into high school is the icing on the cake. Knowing we gave our kids the gift of belonging and shared values? That’s what really matters.

Have a wonderful summer,
Meredith

Congratulations to the Class of 2025

As we celebrate our Grade 8 students, we are proud of their outstanding high school placements and the leadership, mentorship, and intellectual curiosity they have demonstrated — qualities that high schools have clearly recognized and valued. These students are thinkers and builders, collaborators and role models: evidence of what can happen when young people are truly known, supported, and challenged from their earliest years.

Turning Point School’s 2025 Grade 8 graduating class posing outdoors in formal attire, with students arranged in two rows—seated in front and standing behind—alongside a faculty member. The group is diverse, smiling, and dressed in suits and light-colored dresses, with greenery and the school campus visible in the background.