Directory

Catholic (co-ed) · Portola Valley (Peninsula)

Priory

Students
~320
Ratio
7:1
Tuition
$67k

What makes this school special

  • Six semesters of theology are a graduation requirement, alongside four years of English and three and a half years of history and social science
  • Every senior spends the spring on a Senior Project, finding a real need that matches something they care about and building an answer to it
  • About fifty students board, all of them in grades nine through twelve, on a campus that has taken boarders since it opened in 1957

Academics

Curriculum

Advanced Topics seminars in place of APs, taught across ten departments

Advanced coursework

11 AP courses · 35 UC-approved honors courses

See the list filed with UC

World languages

French, Mandarin, Spanish

Signature programs

  • Senior Project (spring of 12th grade)
  • Four-year Advisory program
  • Office of Learning Support
  • Dorm Honors Program for 11th and 12th grade boarders
  • Benedictine Bridging & Belonging (DEIB)

College matriculation

Boston College, Boston University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Emory University, Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University, New York University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Occidental College, Reed College, San Jose State University, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, Tufts University, Tulane University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, USC, University of Washington

See the full list

UC admissions · For fall 2025 entry

applied
52
admitted to at least one campus
38
enrolled at a UC
8
What these numbers can and can’t tell you

Athletics, arts & activities

Athletics · West Bay Athletic League

BaseballBasketballBeach VolleyballCross CountryFlag Football (girls)FootballLacrosseSoccerSwimmingTennisTrack & FieldVolleyball (girls)Water Polo (boys)

Arts

Visual ArtTheaterVocal MusicOrchestra

Clubs & activities · 80+

Model United NationsMock Trial ClubScience OlympiadBlack Student Union (BSU)DECARoboticsSpeech and Debate ClubQuiz BowlPhysics BowlPriory Neurodiversity ClubForeground Literary ReviewPanther Press
See all clubs

Life there

Tuition includes

  • Lunch

Food

Lunch included in tuition (hot entrée plus salad, sandwich, pasta and soup bars); breakfast and dinner included for boarders

Learning support

Office of Learning Support — accommodation plans for documented mild-to-moderate learning differences, ADHD, or psychiatric diagnoses, with executive-functioning and study-skill support

Often on the same list

Sacred Heart Preparatory, Atherton

Catholic (co-ed)

Menlo School

Independent

Crystal Springs Uplands School

Independent

Sources

  1. Woodside Priory School homepage — the stats block: 427 students in grades 6-12, 13 students in an average class, a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, 63% of students identifying as students of color, and 20% receiving financial aid. Also the self-description, "an independent Catholic Benedictine college preparatory school."
  2. Tuition & Fees — 2026-27 day tuition ($67,200), boarding ($97,800), the $600 Student Activity Fee, lunch included, and what is billed separately
  3. Financial Aid — need-based aid only, annual reapplication, and the aid pool: "over $5 million" for 2025-26, against the ">$4M" on the homepage stats block. The 20% both agree on is what this page publishes
  4. Apply to the Day Program — the four application steps, STAR testing on campus, the 1:1 interview, and the 2027-28 key dates: September 1, 2026 release, January 5, 2027 applications due, March 12, 2027 day decisions, March 19, 2027 enrollment agreements and deposits
  5. Apply to the Boarding Program — the separate boarding calendar and its December early round
  6. Mission & Philosophy — the 1957 founding by seven Hungarian Benedictine monks from Pannonhalma, and the five core values
  7. Upper School Course Catalog — graduation requirements, and the department-by-department course lists behind it. Counted across all ten departments on 2026-08-24: 116 upper-school courses, of which 28 are Advanced Topics seminars and exactly one, AP Calculus BC, is AP. The History and Social Science listings date the switch, noting that Advanced Topics courses replaced AP European History and AP Micro/Macroeconomics for 2024-25.
  8. Priory Academics — the Learning Competencies framing
  9. Learning Support — the Office of Learning Support and its accommodation plans
  10. Residential Life — "Each year, about 50 students, from grades nine through twelve, join a rich tradition of boarding at the Priory that dates back to the school's founding in 1957."
  11. Benedictine Bridging & Belonging — the DEIB program, and "nearly half our student population are students of color," against the homepage's 63% (source 1), which is the figure this page publishes
  12. Arts — visual arts, vocal, orchestral and theater
  13. Clubs & Activities — "over 80 options," and the full club roster
  14. Athletics — the team list, read from the page's own team selector. Middle-school teams are excluded here, and the page does not say which season each team plays.
  15. West Bay Athletic League — league membership, and Priory among its recent Foothill Division champions. WBAL splits divisions per sport and season rather than assigning a school to one.
  16. College Counseling — the school's matriculation documents, hosted as PDFs from this page. The colleges above are the "5 or more enrolled" tier of its 5 Year Matriculation List, "College Matriculation Classes of 2022 to 2026, 381 students over five years"
  17. California Private School Affidavit 2025-26 | CDE — enrollment in grades 9-12 (318, filed by the school for 2025-26)
  18. SamTrans routes — routes 85 and 87, which stop on Portola Road near the campus. Both are local Peninsula routes; neither runs to San Francisco, and there is no rail nearby and no school shuttle.
  19. ACS WASC Directory of Schools — accredited, grades 6-12 (directory read 2026-08-24)
  20. UC A-G course list — Woodside Priory School — the 2026-27 course list the school files with the University of California: 11 AP courses and 35 UC-approved honors courses beyond AP. The school's own course catalog counts one AP (AP Calculus BC) alongside 28 Advanced Topics seminars; we carry the filed number

Details checked August 2026