As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,654 students and 129.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. There were 596 students (36.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 201 (12.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
History
The township's first school building was constructed in 1876 on School Street in Woodbridge Proper and was designated Public School No. 1 (PS 1).[citation needed] Built at a cost of $25,000, The school opened in January 1877, and high school classes were initially held there. The clock, bell, and bell tower have since been removed, along with other renovations that have been done to the building.[4] The bell now resides at Parker Press Park. The building now serves as the headquarters of the Woodbridge Board of Education.[citation needed] The first high school graduation took place in 1883, with two graduates.[citation needed]
In 1948, a football field and stadium were built on the site of the former Woodbridge Speedway, a wooden auto racetrack. The facility was dedicated as "The Stadium" and later renamed "Nick Priscoe Field" in the 1970s in honor of a football coach Nick Prisco.[5]
The original Woodbridge High School building opened in 1911 at Barron and Grove Avenues, and was replaced in 1956 by a building constructed adjacent to a new football stadium, at which time the former high school building was repurposed as Woodbridge Middle School.[6] The previous stadium, known as Legion Field, was vacated to make way for the southbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike.[citation needed] Even with the new building, rapid growth in the township meant that the high school held split sessions until 1964, with freshmen and sophomores attending in the afternoon, and juniors and seniors in the morning.[6]
The 1956 high school construction included what was then Kelly Street, later renamed Samuel Lupo Place in the 1980s in recognition of another former football coach.[citation needed] The class of 1956, consisting of 317 students, was the last to graduate from the Barron Avenue building.[citation needed]
Governance
The school's principal is Scott Osborne. His core administration team includes the three vice principals.[7]
Athletics
The Woodbridge High School Barrons[2] compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which includes public and private schools in Middlesex County, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[8] With 1,052 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III for the 2019–20 school year, covering schools with enrollments between 761 and 1,058 students.[9]
The football team competes in Division 4 of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 schools from Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, and Warren counties.[10] For 2024–2026, the NJSIAA classified the team as Group IV North for football, which includes schools with 893 to 1,315 students.[11]
The football team has won nine state championships—1930, 1938, 1939, 1960, 1970, and 1971 prior to the playoff era, and the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV sectional titles in 1980, 1993, and 1997.[13][14]
The boys' basketball team won the NJSIAA Group IV state championship in 1975, finishing 29–2 after defeating Eastside Paterson 73–58 in the title game.[15][16][17]
The school's boys' and girls' bowling teams have combined for 15 state championships. The boys' team won overall titles in 1981, 1983, and 1992, and Group III championships in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018, and 2019, along with Tournament of Champions titles in 2012 and 2018.[18] The girls' team won overall titles in 1989, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2006, and the Group III and Tournament of Champions titles in 2007.[19] The 2001 team won the state championship with 2,653 pins, five ahead of Central Regional High School.[20]
The boys' shuttle hurdle relay team won the Group IV state title in 1995 with a time of 31.27 seconds.[citation needed]
Awards and recognition
The school was the 159th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[22] The school had been ranked 170th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 229th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[23] The magazine ranked the school 231st in 2008 out of 316 schools.[24] The school was ranked 222nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[25] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 40th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 14 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.8%) and language arts literacy (97.3%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[26]
Richie Sambora (born 1959), former lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi who was honored by having the street leading to the school named "Richie Sambora Way"[37]
↑ History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Their Pioneers and Prominent Men, 1882
↑ "John Haley's H.S. Football Picks This Week This Week", Home News Tribune, October 13, 2006. Accessed November 3, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "At Woodbridge, the football field is named after former coaching great Nick Priscoe. The field is located on a street named after former coaching great Sam Lupo, whom knew well. I love that old-time stuff."
1 2 Troeger, Virginia B.; and McEwen, Robert James. Woodbridge: New Jersey's Oldest Township, p. 92, Arcadia Publishing, 2002. ISBN9780738523941. Accessed November 3, 2025. "New Jersey Governor J. Franklin Fort laid the cornerstone on Barron Avenue on October 16, 1910, and Woodbridge High School officially opened in 1911.... Woodbridge High School on Samuel Lupo Drive (formerly Kelly Street) in 1956 was short of space also, and the double session continued there until 1964. Old WHS became a junior high in 1956 with three new junior high schools in Fords, Iselin, and Colonia opening in 1959-1960."
↑ Kinney, Mike. "Big Central revises 2020 football schedule for its shortened inaugural season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 12, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. "The newly formed Big Central Football Conference has released a revised 2020 schedule for its inaugural season.... the BCFC is comprised of schools from Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties."
↑ Staff. "Englewood Wins Title", The New York Times, March 23, 1975. Accessed July 17, 2011. "Woodbridge High won the Group 4 championship, defeating Paterson Eastside, 73-58. Mark DiDonna, a 6-foot-2-inch forward scored 27 points for Woodbridge, which was making its first appearance in the state tournament finals. Woodbridge finished the season with a 29-2 record."
↑ Krautheim, Matt. "Central 2nd by five pins; Artale 5th", Asbury Park Press, February 18, 2001. Accessed January 28, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Five pins. That's all that separated Central Regional's girls bowling team from the Girls state title, as the Golden Eagles finished second to Woodbridge yesterday at the NJSIAA Championships at Carolier Lanes. Central, led by senior Heather Iannaccio's 607 series and junior Lauren Dawkins' 602, came from fourth place after the second game to finish with a 2,648 pinfall. Woodbridge finished with 2,653."
↑ Firkins, B. J. "In Memoriam: Charles L. Robbins; Percy Edgar Brown; Richard Philip Baker; Erwin Oliver Finkenbinder; Charlotte M. King" in Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 1938. Accessed April 27, 2020. "Dr. Brown was born on a farm at Woodbridge, New Jersey, October 9, 1885, and died suddenly of coronary thrombosis at his home on the morning of July 8, 1937, as he was preparing to leave for his office. He graduated from Woodbridge High School in 1902 and received his B.S. degree from Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1906."
↑ Lou Creekmur, database Football. Accessed November 28, 2007.
↑ Kuperinsky, Amy. "Miss USA 2013: Libell Duran brings her winning ways Las Vegas", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 11, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2015. "Filled with other crowns, trophies and sashes — including one from Duran's reign as Woodbridge High School prom queen — the case is almost the only indication a pageant contender lives in the house."
↑ Interview With Jack H. JacobsArchived June 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , Rutgers University, November 20, 2000. Accessed July 11, 2008. "JJ: ... Anyway, we moved to New Jersey in the mid-'50s, and my parents still live in the same house in Woodbridge. I went to Woodbridge High School, and then, from there, I went to Rutgers."
↑ Kyle Johnson player profile, National Football League Players Association. Accessed July 29, 2007. "Hometown: Woodbridge, N.J....Johnson earned second-team all-state recognition and was named all-county and all-area as a senior at Woodbridge High School in Woodbridge, N.J., after rushing for 1,235 yards.
↑ via Associated Press. "Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora honored in N.J.", USA Today, November 24, 2009. Accessed April 18, 2011. "Sambora also financed the new weight room at his alma mater, Woodbridge High School. It's being named in honor of Sambora's father, Adam, who died of cancer in 2007. The street leading to the school is now Richie Sambora Way."
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