Priory Balance Viewbook

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