Welcome to Woodside High School

Check here regularly to find: 

  • Events for Future Families

  • Helpful Links to Explore the School

  • About Woodside High

  • College Acceptance News

  • School News

Upcoming Events

Annual Athletic Kick-Off | August 7, 5:30pm in Center Quad

Freshman Parent/New Parent Orientation | August 7, 6:30pm in Center Quad

Wildcat Welcome Days | in New Gym

  • Freshman attend with parent: Saturday, Aug. 9 

    • A-D 9-9:45am, E-K 9:45-10:30am, L-Q 10:30-11:15am, R-Z 11:15-12 noon

  • Sophomores, Juniors, & Seniors: Tuesday, Aug 13

    • Grade 12: 9:00-10:30am (9-9:30am A-F | 9:30-10am G-P | 10-10:30am Q-Z)

    • Grade 11: 10:30am-12 noon (10:30-11am A-F | 11-11:30am, G-P | 11:30-12 noon Q-Z)

    • Grade 10: 1:30-3:30pm (1:30-2pm A-F | 2-2:30pm E-K | 2:30-3pm L-Q | 3-3:30pm R-Z)

First Day of School | Wednesday, August 13 (Periods 1-7)

Helpful Links to Learn about Woodside High School:

Parent Organizations

Follow WHS  WHS Instagrams capture Woodside Pride and the Four A’s - Academics, Athletics, Activities and Arts. Popular ones include:

About Woodside High School

Over its half-century, Woodside High School has emerged as one of the most dynamic and diverse comprehensive high schools on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside High School students graduate ready to take on the challenges of a college environment and with a unique understanding of a complex society based on their experience in our diverse community.  Our mission is to provide opportunity that matches privilege.

The mid-peninsula is an area of great economic diversity containing some of the most affluent and the most economically deprived communities in the state. Just north of Silicon Valley and Stanford University, Woodside High School is influenced greatly by the rapidly evolving business and cultural interests of the region. Over the past half-century, Woodside High School has emerged as one of the most dynamic and diverse comprehensive high schools on the San Francisco peninsula. We have been listed in Newsweek Magazine’s list of top high schools, and offer one of the most rigorous advanced placement college preparatory programs in the region.

Enrollment

  • Total student enrollment: 1,670

  • Senior enrollment 2024-25: 449

  • 62% of students self-identify as students of color

Instruction

  • # of Elective options: 83

  • # of AP/Honors courses offered: 20

  • % of faculty with advanced degree: 70

Arts,  Activities and Athletics

  • 59 Student run Clubs

  • 33% of students are enrolled in one or more Advanced Placement (AP) courses and collectively take 1,207 tests in May

  • 30% of students are enrolled in a small-cohort academy: Green Academy, Graphics and Tech Academy or AVID

  • # of large-scale theatre productions: 2

  • # of music concerts played in the concert hall: 2

  • # of student-run club: 50+ 

  • # of athletic teams: 40+

  • # of varsity sports offered: 20+

College News: The Class of 2024 Graduated to Success

We are proud that 94% of graduates are attending college. Woodside High School is socio-economically, ethnically, and academically diverse. Educating all students to their highest potential and preparing all students for post-secondary success is a challenge embraced at Woodside High School. Over half of the Class of 2024 are attending 4 year colleges, and the other 40% are attending 2 year colleges. Students also joined the military, are taking a gap year, enrolled in trade programs, or are working.

The Class of 2024 are attending elite private colleges such as Amherst, Brown, Duke, Penn, Parsons, Wake Forest and many others; out-of-state public universities including University of Arizona, Michigan State, and University of Oregon; all University of California campuses with many attending UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis; California State schools; and many students will attend nationally ranked community colleges, like Canada, Foothill, College of San Mateo and Santa Barbara City College, with plans to matriculate to a UC or CSU. 

College Acceptances and Destinations

Class of 2024
Class of 2023
Class of 2022
Class of 2021 - Not available due to pandemic
Class of 2020
Class of 2019
Class of 2018
Class of 2017

Wildcat News

2025 Next Steps Day

SoCal 2024 College Tour  The College Access Program (CAP) funded a free trip for 60 Juniors over 3 days to visit colleges in Southern California to make sure all students are preparing for college and dreaming big. The Students visited Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University, UCLA, Univ. of Southern California USC, UCSB and Cal Poly - SLO.

National Signing Day  10 Seniors marked a milestone after years of hard work and dedication, they committed to playing college sports as part of National Signing Day. Congratulations to: Arielle Bruk - Chapman University (volleyball); Audrey Chung - Brown University (swimming); Connor Davison - Macalester College (baseball); Edana Huang - UC San Diego (swimming); Daniel Mendoza Lucio - DeAnza College (football); Greta Kasle - DeAnza College (volleyball); Katie Myers - Oregon State University (rowing); Harry Pelzman - UC San Diego (baseball); Ben Ricketts - College of San Mateo (football); and Ellery Singleton - University of New Hampshire (volleyball).

Congratulations to seniors Kyla Burfoot, Spencer Bergland and Patrick Van Hoven - WHS National Merit Scholarship FINALISTS!  In February 2024, Principal van Putten had the honor of informing these scholars that they moved to the FINALIST status in the National Merit Scholarship Program and presented them with a Certificate of Merit. All Finalists will be considered for National Scholarship Awards to be offered in 2024. In March, all National Merit Scholarship winners (Merit Scholar® awardees) will be chosen from this group of Finalists based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments.

WHS’s 2024 Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program  Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional promise. Woodside's eleven Commended Students placed among the top 34,000 students who entered the 2024 competition by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) on College Day last October.

"Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success," commented a spokesperson from NMSC. "These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success."

Congratulations to Woodside's Commended Students (alpha order): Leif Austin, Thomas Beasley, Audrey Chung, Lemons Hachigian-Kreutzer, Madeleine Kimbro Norman, Justin Lee, Alya Madhani, Natalia Richter, Tao SatoPerry, Eva Urbanek, and Megan Xu.

College Access Program (CAP) The WHS College Access Program (CAP) is a four-year college prep program free to all Woodside students. CAP includes college visits, standardized test prep, free SAT and PSAT testing, college essay coaching and balanced ‘college list’ creation. WHS uses premier companies, like AJ Tutoring and ObiCoach, to oversee programming in order to ensure quality is on par with what students receive in a private setting. Pictured above is the Class of 2024 visiting colleges in Southern California. CAP programming and college trips are no-cost to students.

CALGAMES 2023 On October 7th and 8th, Team 100 - Wildhats hosted the Cal Games in the New Gym. Bay Area high school robotics teams competed in a friendly competition using last year’s robot designs and the FIRST® Robotics competition course.

The Wildhats went on the run of a lifetime after a rough 3 starting matches at the competition CalGames, confidently winning 7-straight outstanding games to move from 42nd place to finish the qualification matches in 6th place, becoming an alliance captain and fighting through the playoffs bracket all the way to the semi-finals with 3 straight wins and our alliance partners the M-A Bears (Menlo Atherton High School) and Homestead Robotics (Homestead High School).

Additionally, there was a second robot competing at CalGames… the rookie-bot! Team 100B or 9900, or the crowd-favorite laundry basket robot, allowed many freshmen and rookie members of the team to compete at this high-level competition and gain lots of experience on the field.

Fall Play 2023 Murder is afoot in the Performing Arts Center with  the latest fall play production of “Don’t Try to Wake Him, Hand Me the Shovel.” One unique aspect of the play is the immense number of roles offered. While many plays often have a smaller cast, this production sits at 23 people, each with an integral role in the story.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella  The spring musical ran for two weeks in March to a full house and a standing ovation after each performance. The actors and actresses had incredible vocal range and timing. The student-designed and fabricated set design was dramatic! And the costumes created the fantasy... Well done student thespians! 

Music Spotlight WHS offers Band, Advanced Band, Guitar I and II, Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra and Choir. Mr. Gaydos, the new and very popular Music Director, is an avid musician himself and plays the trumpet, piano, violin, flute, and oboe.

Art Boom Artists are thriving at Woodside High. Art, Ceramics, Photography, Animation, Film, Digital Arts, and Music hosted a campus art exhibit on the Quad and throughout the Digital, Visual and Performing Arts Building (DVPA).