In 2013, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the school 8th in the state and first in New Jersey among non-magnet schools. In 2014, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South's varsity debate team won the Colonial Valley Conference's championships, earning the team's first conference title since it became a member in 1973. High School South's debate team has also won a number of prestigious awards and recognition from debate competitions such as Princeton Moot Court, and Princeton Classic. The school newspaper is called "The Pirate's Eye", which won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal in both 2007 and 2008. The school's radio station is WWPH 107.9 FM, shared with West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Pirates compete in the Colonial Valley Conference, which includes high schools from Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,170 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 2,349 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Valley Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as Central Jersey Group IV for football for 2017-18. The school mascot is the Pirate and the school colors are green and gold, with accents of black and white. From 1973 to 2003, the Pirate football team bore a "Golden Dome," or a yellow helmet, which for much of that time was blank without a decal. It changed to a green helmet with a yellow stripe down the middle. Starting in 2018, South's football team combined with High School North. Some of South's historically dominant athletic teams include both Boys' and Girls' swimming and diving, tennis, golf, basketball, fencing and lacrosse. The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey program with West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2017-18 school year. With a decline in the number of student athletes playing football at WW-P South that would be inadequate for the school to field a team of its own, the district attempted to combine the teams from the two schools to have them operate as a single co-operative football team for the 2017-18 school year based at South HS.