Students living meaningful and balanced lives.
COMMUNI T Y | SPIR I T UA LI T Y | IN T EG R I T Y | HOSPI TA L I T Y | INDI V IDUA L I T Y
Teaching and learning. Classes. The introduction of our Learning
Competencies in conjunction with a focus on authentic assessments has driven classes towards relevant and meaningful learning experiences. Exploring “otherness and voicelessness” by staging a Handmaid’s Tale social experiment was powerful.
Lunch Without Voice
Backwards Design. Enduring
understandings and essential questions drive each class and focus each unit, enabling teachers to create purposeful, relevant, and meaningful learning experiences aimed to develop students’ LCs. Authentic assessments such as the Biology Cancer project create life-long learning moments.
I had heard about cancer and seen cancer through the media and through some friends of mine dealing with the loss of a loved one. Yet, I didn’t know what it was. Learning about the biology behind the disease before connecting it to what the disease actually does to people made this project really impactful and impressive.
10th Grade Student
Tinker Lab
Spaces. Taking classes outside of the
traditional classroom disrupts the norm and activates learning. Our Tinker Lab is one such alternative learning environment where ideas spark and grow as kids build off each other’s creativity.
Learning Competencies (LCs).
These essential skills are transferable to multiple contexts, subjects and situations, preparing our students for 21st century citizenship. LCs develop over a lifetime. Thus, our educational focus is on process, progress, growth, and learning to learn.
Content. Classes like Eco Design &
Sustainability empower students to address real world problems using our campus as a learning lab. Students consistently report “work that changes our environment and our mindsets is worth our time.�
Living Wall
Structural
Schedule Perks Never more than two classes in a row No bells, no passing periods No homework during vacations
Chapel
Advisory
Community Gathering Everybody Every Week
Social and Emotional Learning
Small Groups Every Week
Monday Upper School
Tuesday
Middle Sch. and 9th
7:25 – 8:30 Middle School Choir / Wind Symphony / Symphonic Band 8:35 – 9:40 A
8:35 – 9:40 A
9:40 – 10:45 B
9:40 – 10:45 B
10:45 – 11:10 Break
10:45 – 11:10 Recess
11:10 – 12:15 C
11:10 – 12:15 C
12:15 – 1:20 D 1:20 – 1:55 Lunch 1:55 – 3:00 E
12:15 – 12:50 Lunch 12:50 – 1:55 D 1:55 – 3:00 E
Upper School
Wedne
Middle Sch. and 9th
7:25 – 8:30 Concert Choir / String Ensemble / Jazz Band 8:35 – 9:40 F
8:35 – 9:40 F 9:40 – 10:00 Break
10:45 – 11:10 Advisory
12:15 – 1:20 A 1:20 – 1:55 Lunch 1:55 – 3:00 B
8:25 – Middle School Choir Symphon
8:00 – Faculty M 9:45 – 10:50 C
10:00 – 10:45 Chapel
11:10 – 12:15 G
Upper School
10:50 – 11:10 Break
11:10 – 12:15 G 12:15 – 12:50 Lunch 12:50 – 1:55 A 1:55 – 3:00 B
11:10 – 12:15 D
12:15 – 1:20 E 1:20 – 1:55 Lunch 1:55 – 3:00 F
Flex Community Gathering Assemblies Activities Collaboration
Break
Late Start Wednesdays
Community Gathering Everybody Every Day 20–25 minutes
Classes start at 9:45 for students Meetings rotate for all faculty, PD, committees and departments
esday
Thursday
Middle Sch. and 9th
– 9:40 r / Wind Symphony / nic Band
– 9:30 Meeting 9:45 – 10:50 C
Upper School
Friday
Middle Sch. and 9th
7:25 – 8:30 Concert Choir / String Ensemble / Jazz Band 8:35 – 9:50 G 9:50 – 10:15 Flex
8:35 – 9:50 G 9:50 – 10:15 Flex
Upper School
Middle Sch. and 9th
7:25 – 8:30 Concert Choir / Wind Symphony / Jazz Band 8:35 – 9:50 D
8:35 – 9:50 D
9:50 – 10:15 Break
9:50 – 10:15 Break
10:15 – 11:30 E
10:15 – 11:30 E
10:50 – 11:10 Recess
10:15 – 11:40 Break
10:15 – 11:40 Recess
11:10 – 12:15 D
11:40 – 11:55 A
11:40 – 11:55 A
11:30 – 12:45 F
11:55 – 12:30 Lunch
12:45 – 1:20 Lunch
12:30 – 1:45 B
1:20 – 2:25 G
1:20 – 2:25 G
1:45 – 3:00 C
2:25 – 3:10 AP Tutorial / String Ensemble
2:25 – 3:10 Middle School Choir / String Ensemble
12:15 – 12:50 Lunch 12:50 – 1:55 E 1:55 – 3:00 F
11:55 – 1:10 B 1:10 – 1:55 Lunch 1:45 – 3:00 C
11:30 – 12:05 Lunch 12:05 – 1:20 F
Holistic and Spiritual Chapel. A weekly community time where
everyone in the school gathers. The prayer service is centered around a chapel talk given by a student or faculty/staff member. Individuals reflect during music and prayer time. Favorite talks are those from faculty and students sharing their life lessons in poignant, humorous and vulnerable ways.
Student Reflections from Morocco Trip in Chapel
Community Engagement. Students are challenged to live a life of integrity and understand that privilege bestows responsibility. High school students have a full week of service as well as many other opportunities throughout the year. These moments yield a greater sense of purpose for our students as they connect with others in our own neighborhood and around the world.
Local Soup Kitchen
Learning in the Garden
The Priory Garden. An authentic
learning space for classes like Discourse of Dining, an upperclass English elective. It also provides food for our kitchen; kids eat produce from the garden almost every day at lunch. The garden is a place where working with our hands provides sustainable connections with our earth, centering the mind, body and spirit.
Sophomore Retreat
Retreats. Each grade level leaves campus
for a 1-3 day class retreat that provides time and space to focus on our mission and Benedictine values. Retreats are planned, organized, and facilitated by our Student Retreat Team. They create an environment to cultivate meaningful bonds between self, others, and the Divine.
Woodside Priory School is a Catholic Benedictine, independent college preparatory school. Our 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.
Thanks to our partn ers. Challenge Success | ISM | NAIS & the Innovation Kitchen | EE Ford Foundation
Thanks to our Monks, Faculty, Staff, and Students.
Visit us at prioryca.org/Balance
admissions@prioryca.org | (650) 851-8223 | www.prioryca.org