Saint Teresa of Avila School opened on September 19, 1949 under the direction of the Sisters of Providence, St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana. The seventh and eighth grades were added as the original sixth grade class advanced. The first eighth grade graduates, eighteen in number, received their diplomas on June 12, 1952.
In May of 1969 it was announced that the seventh and eighth graders from Saint Teresa of Avila School would attend the newly formed middle school of Our Lady Queen of the Angels the following September. On June 12th of that year, the last graduation ceremony was held for a class of twenty students.
With the closing of Our Lady Queen of the Angles Middle School in 1982, the need for reopening the seventh and eighth grades became apparent. A proposal was presented to the Archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools and was approved in January 1987. During the 1988-1989 school year, plans were developed for a Kindergarten and a Writing To Read lab and in September 1989, the first Kindergarten class began with 30 students and the Writing To Read lab opened.
In 1983 the Sisters of Providence turned the administration of the school over to a lay principal. The Sisters of Providence remain involved in the work of the parish in various capacities.
Today, Saint Teresa of Avila School has nine classrooms, a Writing To Read Lab/computer lab classroom and a Title I Los Angeles Unified School District bungalow. The Title I program serves the students who are in need of remedial reading assistance. The Outreach Concern Counseling program, introduced in 1991, provides the students, their families and the faculty and staff with counseling, testing and crises intervention services. The CYO varsity athletic program was developed in 1995 and provides after school inter mural sports for eligible students. The school serves students with diverse ethnic backgrounds and draws from an extended geographic area.