Hallett Academy first opened its doors in the North Park Hill neighborhood as Lucius F. Hallett Elementary School in 1950. Twenty years later, Knight Elementary School opened in the Belcaro neighborhood, in 1970. Declining enrollment forced Knight Elementary School to close in 1980. In the spring of 1982 a magnet school design was approved, and Fundamental Academy at Knight Elementary School opened in the fall of 1982.
The instructional focus was to prepare children, without opportunity, for traditional formal schooling (as in underdeveloped areas) for effective participation in community life through instruction in basic facts and skills (as of literacy, agriculture, homemaking, hygiene, and citizenship). Fundamental Academy was moved into Hallett Elementary School in 2009, becoming Hallett Fundamental Academy.
In alignment with the goals of the Denver 2020 plan, which aspires to prepare students for college and career by ensuring that students have the 21st century skills needed for success, the term fundamental has been removed effective spring 2017.
Hallett Academy is located in North Park Hill, and serves students from ECE-3 through fifth-grade. We are a community school committed to providing a safe, positive and inclusive learning environment. At Hallett, relationships are valued; learning is interactive, rigorous, and connected to students’ interests. Hallett Academy is a place where students learn academic and social-emotional competencies, in support of their success. Adults nurture a sense of belonging, and create a positive classroom culture where students are free to focus on engaging learning tasks. Students are emotionally safe to take risks, to challenge themselves, and to be challenged by their peers. Hallett Academy is a place where students are known and surrounded by a community who cares so that they can do their best learning.
