As IUSD kicked off the 2016-17 school year on August 24, it opened two new schools; Portola High School, the District’s fifth comprehensive high school, and Beacon Park K-8. Serving the Great Park Neighborhoods and parts of north Irvine, both schools are state-of-the-art educational facilities designed to foster collaboration, innovation and integration of technology to ensure students are prepared for 21st Century college and career opportunities. Common features between Portola High School and Beacon Park include:
- Design Labs – These spaces become easily accessible extensions of classrooms to facilitate small or large group learning and project-based learning. They also provide students with collaboration skills they will need to be college and career ready.
- Dedicated Music Classrooms – Such dedicated spaces improve music instruction and student learning with better acoustics and less time to transition from a general use space.
- Innovation Labs – These labs are designed to foster flexible learning and technology spaces for a variety of projects and various group work. They create a robust environment for students to learn, collaborate, innovate and brainstorm.
- Flexible Furniture – Each school site is equipped with flexible furniture, throughout each campus, to foster student-centered learning. This flexibility enables teachers and students to reconfigure their space for large or small group instruction and collaboration.
Both schools have been designed to meet criteria developed by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, which helps establish campuses that are healthy, comfortable, energy efficient and aligned with modern teaching and learning as reflected by IUSD’s Continuous Improvement Efforts. In addition, many of the features at both schools are designed to mirror innovation and design lab features at such universities as Stanford and UCI. As IUSD also continues to strengthen our relationships with the business community to ensure our students are prepared for 21st Century careers, we have developed the flexible student-centered spaces to be reflective of innovative workplaces. Below is a list of features by school site. 
- 21st-Century classrooms with common areas for collaborative learning
- Dedicated science labs and visual and performing arts classrooms
- A student union featuring collaborative learning environment, a library with dedicated quiet rooms and an Innovation Lab
- Design lab for students’“Senior Passion Project” development
- An elective building that will house a video production studio, 2D and 3D art, acoustically designed music rooms and more
- A performing arts building with a 720-seat theater, black box and dance studio
- A special education facility to facilitate essential life skills
- A green roof that will enable hands-on, sustainable learning
- A 2,940 seat stadium with rubberized track and artificial turf
- An aquatics center with a 50-meter pool
- A 2,044 seat gymnasium that includes training facilities and dedicated team rooms
- Eight tennis courts
- Varsity and JV baseball and softball fields
- Track and field facilities
- Two full soccer fields
To learn more about Portola High School, visit iusd.org/phs. Additional resources include:
- Principal John Pehrson’s Welcome Message
- Orange County Register article: Portola High School opens doors to serve Irvine's growing population
- ICTV coverage of Portola High School
- Student collaboration spaces across all grade levels
- Dedicated music classrooms
- Dedicated science classrooms in grades 6-8
- Innovation Lab
- Design Lab
- Parent Center
- Full-Court Gymnasium
- Dedicated kindergarten play area
- Large outdoor play field
- Hard court activities including handball and tetherball equipment
- Dedicated fitness lab for students in grades 6-8– Mirrors athletic spaces found at the high school level.
To learn more about Beacon Park, visit iusd.org/bp IUSD is pleased to welcome back to school all of our more than 32,000 students and their families and we hope those attending our new schools feel at home as they settle in for a great year ahead.