Woodside Priory School
Co-Education (12-18)
Day School, Boarding School
https://www.prioryca.org
302 Portola Rd., Portola Valley, CA 94028, USA
Enrollment Phase / Grades
NAIS, CAIS, WASC, NCEA, WCEA
Patrick Ruff
Yearly Tuition Fee (Min)
52,680 USD (Day) / 76,880 USD (Boarding)
Yearly Tuition Fee (Max)
Founded in 1957, Woodside Priory School serves students internationally, providing a co-educational college preparatory Catholic Benedictine education. As Silicon Valley's only boarding school, we also proudly serve the local community through its day program with a total student population of 400. Woodside Priory's mission is to assist all students in creating meaningful and balanced lives, developing as lifelong learners and stewards, and productively serving a world in need of their gifts.
Residing in the heart of Silicon Valley and minutes away from Stanford University, our approach provides balance and meaning to our students and the greater community. Our five Benedictine values –community, hospitality, individuality, integrity, and spirituality­–are intertwined in our educational approach. Whether it is building a new robot in our STREAM building, harvesting the vegetables in our 100-bed Franklin Garden, acting in the all-school play, or competing for the state basketball championship, we encourage students to explore new passions while pursuing ones that bring them personal fulfillment and joy. Together with a dynamic and rigorous college preparatory curriculum, we challenge our students in the classroom through our Advanced Placement and Honors-level curriculum. With 80% of faculty holding advanced degrees, our students are consistently challenged intellectually and supported through the trials that being a teenager brings.
Priory's boarding program provides students with a unique experience serving 50 students every year. Our boarding students join us from five continents bringing a distinctive perspective to classroom and dormitory alike. With 50% of boarding students coming from the United States, our upper school boasts 20% of its population from abroad. Weekend activities take full advantage of Northern California's offerings. Whether hiking nearby, surfing in Santa Cruz, skiing in Lake Tahoe, or exploring San Francisco, our boarding students develop bonds that bind them together forever.
After four years in our upper school, our students are ready to share their gifts with the world, enrolling in four-year universities and colleges worldwide. However, it is not long before they return home to Priory's campus. Nothing captures the Priory experience than catching up with the monks that call Priory home, reconnecting with former teachers, and reminiscing about the experiences that made them who they are today.
A Benedictine education has never been so valuable as it is today. Combining a values-based education with the innovation of a region that has changed our lives makes for a distinctive experience–come and see what we are about at Woodside Priory!
Advanced Placement, curriculum approved by the University of California
Languages of instruction
French, Mandarin, Spanish
University counseling
We encourage students to explore new passions while cultivating old ones. With over 30 student-led clubs and organizations on campus, including robotics and Model United Nations, our students are also encouraged to participate in 13 sports, theater, instrumental and vocal music.
Because Priory is small and my son was able to try different things and fail at the some and succeed at others, he has really found his voice. He has found what he loves...he has found his confidence thanks to Priory.
— Winston, Parent for Woodside Priory School
After Priory, I attended the University of Pennsylvania. It was my top pick school. Looking back on those years in the U.S, I felt happiest when I was at Priory with great teachers and dormers from all around the world.
— Joon, Alumnus (Boarding) for Woodside Priory School
It's a great model for the kids to take risk. In high school, the academic performance level is so high that you may fail sometimes and that is going to be ok. You just pick yourself up and you're going to do something else, and make it work next time. Or just begin again. We say that often at Priory, "always we begin again." It doesn't matter if you're successful or if you fail, you're always going to have to recreate yourself again and again. It is said so frequently at Priory that every student on campus could tell you that line.
— Jennifer, Parent for Woodside Priory School
I feel like Priory is really student and community-centered...Priory is always thinking about what is important for our students now. Mindfulness and well-being is always at the center.
— Tamara, Parent for Woodside Priory School
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