How are the public schools in Portsmouth?

[Grivas]

We're considering adding Portsmouth to the list of towns where we would move if we can ever sell our house. Our dd is still a baby, but it makes sense to check on the schools, first, of course. Any comments? thanks!

[In Exile]

Portsmouth is okay, I am actually friends with a teacher in the High School over there. I would trust Portsmouth High.

Just don't go to School in Kittery, I guess.

Portsmouth is a very diverse Place, though. Strange mix sometimes.

[mainemommy1]

A year ago I researched local schools and we moved because I wanted to be in a town where we could stay and not have to move my son out of the school system. I was a teacher prior to having my son so this topic is dear to my heart.

Kittery is fine-The High School is small and so they do not offer a lot of extras. I do know many people are happy with the elementary school in Kittery.

York and Eliot/South Berwick have the best reputations in this area in terms of Maine schools. York is smaller but still offers plenty. Wells also has a good reputation

Portsmouth Dondero and Little Harbor have good reputations for elementary schools. I do not know about the other schools in Portsmouth. High School is very big-with very big comes more problems and a broader range of family backgrounds.

In NH, Durham Oyster River has the best reputation on the seacoast-we could not afford their taxes however. BUT I would have LOVED to have sent my son there! Lee and Madbury are in the same Oyster River School District. Moharimet Elementary is my favorite. The middle and high schools are wonderful!

I'd stay away from Dover, ROchester and SOmersworth.

Not sure if this is helpful or not.....I'd be happy to try to answer more specific questions if you have them too.

[samsmom+1]

I have two children in the Portsmouth schools and would recommend them highly.

Dover is also fine. I would stay far away from Kittery, Somersworth and Rochester.

I have a friend who works in the Oyster River district, and she says they have been coasting on their reputation for years, so you may want to do more research before moving there.

[mainemommy1]

If you go to the NH Department of Education site you can search stats on school districts. Oyster River, Hollis Brookline and Amherst districts are the BEST in the state. You can look at standardized test scores in comparison to the rest of the state, class size, school size, percentage of students who graduate and go to 4year colleges, drop out rates, and much more.

[Grivas]

thanks for the great replies! I posted this so long ago that I forgot to check it, again. Your advice is very helpful

[mandcc96]

Portsmouth is a diverse area being bigger than most of the surrounding towns. Hampton has a great school system (my kids are from next town over) according to most of the local moms that I know who's children attend Hampton schools. My daughter attends Winnacunnet High in Hampton which includes several of the surrounding towns. She loves it since it has a lot of extras due to its size and student count. Hampton is about 20 minutes south of Portsmouth. It's great that you're looking into the school systems before moving somewhere.

[Rebecca]

SAU 50 is fantastic. That's Greenland, New Castle, Rye and Newington. All are small schools, well funded, and ahem, more exclusive towns. They all feed into Portsmouth for High School but not for junior high (except Newington). Portsmouth has a lot to offer in terms of extracurriculars, honors, vocational, and a good reputation in general. The demographic for the most part is upper-middle with some smatterings of either end. Like any town, if people are willing to pay for private HS, they send their kids to Berwick Academy, Cornerstone Montessori (Exeter), Portsmouth Christian Academy or St Thomas (both in Dover) or even Phillips Exeter Academy if they are the wealthiest and brightest. We live in SAU 50 and honestly, my kids have every luxury afforded to a public school child... they start Spanish in Kindergarten, have a 10-1 student teacher ratio (or better depending on the grade), a science contractor who does experiments with the kids, local musicians that play for the the children, volunteers who read, cook, play games, tutor, etc them. I couldn't pay for a better education than my kids are getting in New Castle. Seriously, even private schools have a bigger classroom than the 12 kids in the entire combined K-1-2 class my son is in right now. He gets tons of individual attention, which we all love.

[Leilamus]

Originally Posted by samsmom+1

I have two children in the Portsmouth schools and would recommend them highly.

Dover is also fine. I would stay far away from Kittery, Somersworth and Rochester.

I have a friend who works in the Oyster River district, and she says they have been coasting on their reputation for years, so you may want to do more research before moving there.

What's the scoop on Kittery? I have to ask because that's where we live. We homeschool so it's not really an issue for us now but I'm curious why I'm seeing so many negative comments about it. We have friends whose older kids go to the HS and love it but they didn't go to the elementary school. TIA for info!

[samsmom+1]

Kittery is under pressure by the state to merge with another school district. They are also either closing the elementary school or are delaying that decision.

School quality always affects you, whether you homeschool or not...it affects your property values.

[mainemommy1]

Just to clarify: Kittery is in compliance with the state in terms of consolidation. See the link below for a newspaper article from Feb
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articl...-NEWS-90204036

[Leilamus]

thanks for the info on Kittery. We rent right now so not a huge issue with property value for us at the moment but maybe someday if we buy here.

[Rebecca]

I still love Kittery though. The people I know who live in Kittery are happy with the schools as far as I know. I haven't heard any direct complaints. And Kittery is doing great things in the schools with the town's energy committee like having kids do the Carbon Challenge and other enviromentally-minded activities.