Woodside High School

Woodside High School is a public high school in the Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD), on Churchill Avenue near Woodside Road. Despite the name, it sits on the flat eastern edge of Woodside rather than up in the hills, about 3.6 miles from downtown Palo Alto in a straight line. Wikipedia says it serves students from Portola Valley, Woodside and Redwood City.

For Palo Alto readers, Woodside High is the public school that families in Portola Valley and parts of Redwood City are assigned to. It is also a frequent stop for anyone weighing a move up the Peninsula. Palo Alto addresses themselves go to Gunn or Paly. This page covers the school's history, programs, the 2027 to 2028 calendar for prospective families and state data. We do not repeat commercial rankings.

History and campus

Woodside High opened in September 1958, according to Wikipedia, which cites the Menlo Park Recorder of that June. Menlo Park architect Peter Kump designed the first campus with 40 classrooms. Its first principal had led the Menlo-Atherton adult evening school. The campus covers 34 acres.

The school's teams are the Wildcats and the mascot is Wilbur the Wildcat. The fight song is "Sons of Westwood" and the student newspaper is The Paw Print. Wikipedia names Sequoia High School in Redwood City as the traditional rival. Alumni listed on Wikipedia include Olympic swimmers John Naber and Pokey Watson and NFL receiver Julian Edelman.

The school today

Woodside High serves grades 9 to 12. The California Department of Education counted 1,694 students on Census Day in 2025 to 2026, the smallest of the district's four comprehensive high schools (Carlmont, Menlo-Atherton, Sequoia and Woodside). The principal named on the school's administration page in November 2026 is Karen Van Putten. The school's page describes her as new to the district, with 27 years of experience as a teacher, mentor and principal in Bay Area schools.

Wikipedia, citing the school's 2024 to 2025 profile, says Woodside offers 83 electives. Its administration is organized with an instructional vice principal who builds the master schedule and assistant principals who each oversee a caseload of students by last name.

Attendance and enrollment for 2027 to 2028

SUHSD assigns students to a home school by address. The district's School Site Locator, linked from its open enrollment page, gives the answer for any address. The same process covers every district high school:

1. Priority online registration opens October 15. Every incoming ninth grader registers this way.
2. A family that wants a school other than the assigned one makes an open enrollment request inside the registration form.
3. Requests are due February 1, 2027. Boundary exception requests share the same deadline.
4. If a school has more requests than seats, a public drawing by video conference takes place on February 5 at 1 p.m.
5. Approval letters go out in the first week of March. A waitlist runs until April 30.

Approvals are lottery based. Once approved, the transfer cannot be reversed, there is no appeal and the family is responsible for transportation. Sibling priority applies only when a sibling attends the school in the year requested.

Boundary exceptions

The district changed its boundaries starting in 2015 to 2016. Families in re-designated zones may ask to attend the school they were originally assigned to. Students coming from the Tinsley transfer program may request the same high school as their middle school classmates, space permitting. Our transfers guide explains Tinsley from the Palo Alto side.

Visiting as a prospective family

Woodside's prospective families page lists these events for students entering in fall 2027:

The school says to allow at least an hour for Walk on the Wildside and three to five working days for a shadow request to be processed. It no longer takes requests for a specific student guide. A Spanish version of the shadow program page is available.

Programs

Green Academy

The Efficient Use of Water and Energy Academy, usually called the Green Academy, is a school-within-a-school. Its stated goal is to prepare students for careers in green technology and environmental sustainability. The school describes science-based, project-oriented learning, four core academy classes with a shared cross-curricular focus, teachers who plan together and smaller classes.

Career technical education

Woodside offers career technical education courses that meet state CTE requirements, many of which also count toward University of California A to G admission requirements. The school's site links to a Graphics Technology Academy and a culinary arts program within its arts department.

Advanced Placement and AVID

The school runs an Advanced Placement program with posted summer assignments for AP classes and a coordinator for exam registration. AVID, the college readiness program, has its own department page. Our guide to high school course options shows how Gunn and Paly handle AP and honors, for comparison.

Athletics

The Wildcats play in the Peninsula Athletic League in the Central Coast Section. The athletics page lists fall, winter and spring sports and posts the PAL eligibility dates each season. Athletes clear online through the district's process before tryouts. Woodside's assistant principal for student discipline also oversees athletics, according to the administration page.

How it compares: state data

Enrollment and student groups come from the California Department of Education Census Day count for 2025 to 2026. Test figures are the share of 11th graders who met or exceeded the standard on the CAASPP Smarter Balanced tests in spring 2025.

In the same count, Woodside's students were about 54 percent Hispanic or Latino, 33 percent white and 4 percent Asian. About 15 percent of students have disabilities. The school draws from both the wealthy hill towns and lower-income neighborhoods of Redwood City and North Fair Oaks, so averages hide a wide spread. The California School Dashboard has graduation and college readiness data.

Getting there from Palo Alto

From Palo Alto, the usual drive is north on El Camino Real or Alameda de las Pulgas, or west on Sand Hill Road to Interstate 280, then over to Woodside Road (Highway 84) and Churchill Avenue. The school sits between El Camino Real and Interstate 280, so either route works. Expect slow traffic on Woodside Road at bell times.

Caltrain riders can use Redwood City station, 6 minutes from Palo Alto, but the campus is nearly 3 miles from the station, so plan a bike or a bus connection. Our Woodside and Atherton guide covers the town itself.

Frequently asked questions