Wayne Valley High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school, in Wayne, in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Wayne Public Schools, the other being Wayne Hills High School. The school is also accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education and has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1954., Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 7, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2015.Overview, Wayne Valley High School. Accessed November 15, 2021. "Wayne Valley High School, which opened in September 1952, is a comprehensive high school, accredited by the Middle States Association of College and Secondary Schools and the New Jersey Department of Education." Wayne Valley's school colors are blue and white.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,201 students and 122.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.8:1. There were 106 students (8.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 33 (2.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Wayne Valley High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Before the school opened in 1952, students from Wayne had attended Pompton Lakes High School.Gantaifis, Nick. "Football: Legendary high school football coach Fred Keil passes away",Wayne Today, January 19, 2016. Accessed August 30, 2020. "Wayne Valley High School did not open until 1952 and prior to that Wayne students attended nearby Pompton Lakes High School."
The school was called "Wayne High School" until Wayne Hills High School opened in September 1966,"School Enrollment Hits 11,000 and Still Growing", Paterson Evening News, September 13, 1966. Accessed November 18, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The district opened a new secondary school, Wayne Hills High School, last Wednesday, and has begun construction on a third junior high school." at which time the word "Valley" was added to the original school's name in order to differentiate between the two."The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Football...", The News, September 7, 1966. Accessed October 8, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The 'old' in this case is the 'old' Wayne High School, which is now known as Wayne Valley. The 'new' is the new school, christened Wayne Hills.""Wayne Cuts Contractor's Bill", Paterson Evening News, November 9, 1965. Accessed November 18, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "In other business, the board adopted names for the new high school on Berdan Avenue and the existing Wayne High school on Valley Road. The new building, completion due in September 1966, was named 'Wayne Hills Senior High School' and the existing one, 'Wayne Valley Senior High School.'"
Awards, recognition and rankings In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 417th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 45th among all high schools in New Jersey and 28th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
The school was the 91st-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 64th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 63rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 19, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 46th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 21, 2011. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 122nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.9%) and language arts literacy (94.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 4, 2012.
Sports The Wayne Valley High School IndiansWayne Valley High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, which was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. In the 2009-10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment., New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed September 16, 2014. Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Northern Hills Conference's Skyline Division., Northern Hills Conference, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 28, 2011. Accessed December 15, 2014. With 994 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the Freedom Red division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league.Cooper, Darren. "Here's what we know about the new Super Football Conference 2020 schedule", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference (SFC) is a 112-team group, the largest high school football-only conference in America, and is comprised of teams from five different counties."Cooper, Darren. "NJ football: Super Football Conference revised schedules for 2020 regular season", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference has 112 teams that will play across 20 divisions." The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 893 to 1,315 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The school participates in a joint ice hockey team with Wayne Hills High School as the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.