Some families here drive well outside the South Bay for school. Knowing which campuses pull from this area, and roughly how far the drive runs, is worth understanding before you assume a commute is impossible.
Which schools do South Bay families commute to?
A meaningful number of local students travel out of the area daily, and single sex schools are most of the reason. This is the list families actually consider.
| School | City | Type | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola High School | Los Angeles | All boys, Jesuit Catholic, 9-12 | 1865 |
| St. John Bosco High School | Bellflower | All boys, Salesian Catholic, 9-12 | 1940 |
| Junipero Serra High School | Gardena | Catholic, Archdiocese of Los Angeles | Verify directly |
| Marymount High School | Los Angeles | All girls, Catholic, 9-12 | 1923 |
| Notre Dame Academy | Los Angeles | All girls high school, co-ed TK-8, Catholic | 1946 |
| St. Mary’s Academy | Inglewood | All girls, Catholic, 9-12 | 1889 |
| Orange County School of the Arts | Santa Ana | Public charter, 7-12, co-ed | 1987 |
Orange County School of the Arts is worth understanding properly, because South Bay families do send students there and it is widely misdescribed as a private school. It is a tuition free public charter enrolling roughly 2,300 students from more than 100 California cities, across conservatories in applied arts, dance, fine and media arts, music and theatre alongside a college preparatory academic program. Admission is by a conservatory placement audition plus a public random lottery where oversubscribed. Applicants may apply to up to two conservatories. The academic program is state funded; conservatory programs run on private fundraising and the school asks families for an annual donation, while stating that no student is admitted or denied on financial capacity.
Loyola publishes 2026 to 2027 tuition between $32,732 and $32,917 depending on grade level and states that admissions are need blind. St. John Bosco publishes $18,325 for grades nine through eleven. Marymount publishes $45,750 for grades nine through eleven with tuition including bus transportation, daily lunch and a laptop. St. Mary’s Academy publishes $11,840 to $12,668 and runs an Onward Scholars program covering 75 percent of tuition for four years for up to twelve students.
All of these require the HSPT or a comparable entrance assessment, and the application calendar runs from October through mid January with decisions in early March. If you are moving here with a child entering eighth grade, that calendar starts sooner than most families expect.
Independent, parochial and early learning programs change more often than public districts do. Enrollment windows, grade spans and tuition move year to year, and a school listed here may have changed either since we last checked. Confirm anything that matters to you with the school directly.
Have a question about this? Neil answers personally.