Gaspar De Portola Middle School in Tarzana, California

The school is named after Gaspar de Portola y Rovira, a Spanish explorer who led the first European expedition to California. The explorer is credited with naming many localities throughout the area he explored. He is also the namesake of a number of schools in the state, including Gaspar de Portola Middle School in Tarzana and Gaspar De Portola High School in Orange.

About the School

At Gaspar De Portola, teachers, staff, parents and students come together to create a safe, nurturing environment for learning. It’s a place where students are encouraged to have a growth mindset, show grit and become active learners.

In addition to the traditional classroom, there are a variety of specialty programs at Gaspar De Portola that allow for students to pursue their passions outside of the regular curriculum. These include:

Highly Gifted Magnet Program

The highly gifted magnet program is designed to help students in grades 6-8 develop a range of academic and artistic skills that they will be able to use throughout their lives. This program offers courses in advanced math, musical theatre, speech and debate, robotics and coding.

Excellent Teaching Team

The teaching staff at Gaspar De Portola has been exemplary. Each teacher has a strong commitment to their craft, which allows students to learn from experts in their fields. In fact, some of our teachers hold multiple honors and awards.

Dedicated Principal

The school’s principal is very attentive to the needs of students and their families, as well as to the overall education of each student. Her leadership has made a tremendous impact on the school culture and community of students and their families at Portola.

She also takes the time to teach the whole child and ensure that their disciplinary needs are met. She is a true asset to the school and has greatly helped to improve the culture of the school in the last two years.

Her commitment to her students and her dedication to the school is truly amazing!

This is a great school with a wonderful principal, wonderful and caring teachers, and a very good and helpful administration. I would recommend this school to any parent with a child that is interested in a quality education and an excellent school experience.

I had my son attend this school and he did very well there. The teachers were wonderful and the school had a lot of opportunities for my son. He was able to complete Algebra II and was in honors classes that allowed him to take a step up from what his peers were doing at the time.

He was very involved in his extracurricular activities such as chess, dance and orchestra, and had an amazing experience with these extracurriculars. He was very excited to come to school every day and had no problem learning.

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