Portola High School


Portola High School is one of five public high schools in the Irvine Unified School District and is located in Irvine, California. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2014 and the school opened in Fall 2016. The campus is situated on 42 acres of land and can accommodate approximately 2,600 students. The school mascot is the Bulldog.

Neighborhoods served

Students residing primarily in the northeastern area of the Irvine Unified School District attend Portola. Portola's geographical boundary covers the second largest surface area in the district, behind only that of University High School. Neighborhoods served include:
The school opened in fall 2016 with 400 9th-grade students. In each successive year, a new grade level will be added, 9th and 10th grade students attending in 2017–2018, grades 9–11 in 2018–2019, and grades 9–12 starting in the 2019–2020 school year.

Campus

Portola's campus is located on land formerly occupied by the Irvine Ranch and Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. It was constructed to meet criteria established by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.
Volatile organic compounds were detected in soil gas samples in 2014, but on May 19, 2016, the Portola High School site was declared safe by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control.

Physical features

PHS contains specialized buildings outside of normal classrooms. These features come in part from IUSD's Ed Spec standards.

Innovation Lab

The Innovation Lab is run through the staff in the library and contains multiple methods and machines to produce products using multiple formats such as plastic, metal, wood, etc.

Layout

The school is laid out in groups of buildings:
Classroom building groups are linked on the second story by walkways.
Many spaces have multiple uses; the cost savings allowed for construction of the theater, stadium, and aquatics center in the first phase rather than in a later expansion.
All academic buildings are numbered with four digits, the first two of which represent the building group and range from 1 to a number in the 10s. The third number is either 0 or 1, for a ground-level room, or 5 or 6, for a room on the second level.
The middle of each floor in the building contains a student collaboration area with multiple arrangements of seating, a projector, whiteboards, and whiteboard tables. This space can be used both for quiet work and for collaboration between classes.

Student Union and lunch areas

The Student Union is an indoor area used for lunch and small events. Outside, tables form a "quad" where students can eat and converse. However, students are free to roam through the campus to eat during lunch, provided there is sufficient supervision.

Learning Commons

The Learning Commons functions as the school library, containing databases that students can use for research as well as multimedia resources including two TVs, and also providing study space. It is separated from the Student Union by a retractable glass wall; they can be combined to provide space for events.

Theatre

The 720-seat theater holds an advanced A/V setup with wireless audio, manual and automatic lighting, orchestra pit, and a full stage. The seating areas are split between two floors. The building, along with a normal theater with stadium seating, contains a black box theatre for specialized uses.

Schedule

The school uses an eight-period, alternating block schedule plus one day a week on which all courses meet for a short period.

Academics

Portola offers academic programs spanning Social Science, English, VAPA, Science, and more with CP, H, and AP programs. The most recent program and class list can be found at https://portolahigh.iusd.org/counseling/course-information/phs-course-offerings

Athletics

Portola High School's athletic teams, known as the Bulldogs, compete in the California Interscholastic Federation/Southern Section. Portola participates in the following sports:
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House system

Lacking a traditional inter-class competitiveness, the Portola staff established a house system. There are four houses, which compete for points: Orion, Poseidon, Hercules, and Pegasus. The ASB of Portola is charged with creating and hosting competitions and events which give students the opportunity to earn house points.

PNN

The Portola News Network, or PNN, releases a bimonthly broadcast that is shown in Advisement on Tuesday to inform students on school and global events, as well as feature certain students and play various videos developed by the school's Video Production class.

''Portola Pilot''

The is the school's newspaper. It publishes its papers bi-monthly and is free to students.

Technology

The 1:1 Chromebook Program provides each student at the school with a free Chromebook. This system allows teachers and students to incorporate new teaching and learning elements in the classroom with equal accessibility to all students.

Awards

Best of the Best K-12 Education Award - California - January 30, 2018
Best of the Best K-12 Education Award - National - January 30, 2018