Please help - moving to the Seacoast (Dover, Portsmouth: home, best school)

[CityGirl52]

If you check out this site you can read some interesting facts on the Stratham school system and how they are. I think you'll really like this about their schools and as you're doing your research you'll find the seacoast schools for the most part are all quite good for what they offer. It's the outcome that will really pay off in the end and we've seen it over and over again on the seacoast with SO many kids, trust me, it's going to pay off in the long run at these schools! Here's a site that you could check out:

www.sms.sau16K12.NH.us (broken link)

There's the Stratham Memorial School which is located on Gifford Farm Rd. for grades PK-5 and the Cooperative Middle School which is located on Academic Way for Grades 6 to 8.

I've been in this last school, the Cooperative Middle School, it's fairly new and WHAT a beautiful complex it is. I had to attend a dance show there a few years ago, it's really really quite a nice school and from what I'm hearing from SO many people, it's right on target with how they operate within their walls too! It's such an easy school to get to as well. If you're on Rte 1 in Hampton take the road where the Old Salt Restaurant and Lamie's is located, right in the center of town where all the lights are along Rte 1, this is Hampton Rd. Then all you do is follow it straight all the way, a few miles and on the right will be Guinea Rd. Take this road and not even a mile up on the right is the Cooperative Middle School in Stratham.

Good luck with your research on the schools of the seacoast! Much happiness will follow you and yours, I'm sure.

[Elron1]

ribby84 and others on this thread - I just stumbled onto this forum and am finding your research on schools SO helpful - thank you!

My family is in the early stages of relocating from Cincinnati, OH. I have boys 2, 5, and 7 so schooling is our top priority. I was very attracted to Exeter from an overall feel - walkability, diversity, old and new neighborhoods, etc. but did not have any details on the schools format - we're in a district right now that is rated very high in the state, but the worksheets are un-ending! Do any of you know what types of 'gifted' programs exist in NH? Our program starts in the 2nd grade and you qualify based on the standard test results - do you know if Exeter or N. Hampton have these types of programs? Also, with Philips Exeter being right in town, I'm curious what opportunities this school might offer to the community at large in the way of enrichment activities or summer programs - does anyone have info on this? Thanks much in advance.

[ribby84]

Elron1 - This site is very informative. We are also moving this fall. As far as walkable towns Exeter is your best bet. It is beautiful seems to be a great family town. The schools I was not impressed with. You can go to greatschools.net and they rank most of the schools very high, but alot has to do about test scores. I think it is great that kids score well on tests as that is part of life (test taking). The school my oldest boys are in scores great on the testing but why wouldn't they when the school revolves around work sheets and teaching to the test. In part this is Bush's (hopefully -well intended) attempts at holding schools accountable. But when funding and teachers raises/jobs are dependent on the scores it leaves little room for arts/music/science/outdoor play time. Exeter is very traditional with worksheets and curriculum. Language is limited to afterschool programs. There is a web site parents have started www.sau16.info (broken link) - parents who are unhappy with the direction the school is taking. There isn't a gifted program per say - they group the children heterogeneously in classroom grouping and through middle and high school. Parent's main complaint was the kids needs were not being met. Some literature supports grouping like this. Durham was nice and you can walk to downtown. Not quite the same type of downtown. The school itself I thought was in a different caliber. For instance, their theory on traditional/uniform homework was it is inneffective and their homework was even project based at an early age. Not to say kids were not having age appropriate reading/writing etc. It just was not that typical color/cut and paste. We went up to Bow last fall. I liked it and the kids go to Pinkerton Academy - it was very rural. Having grown up in rural Maine I was not quite ready for that. Very beautiful - big lake. I could go on and on about North Hampton. The school is absolutely what we are looking for. We have 3 boys and one girl and like you said - we are so tired of the endless worksheets. There is no formal gifted progam but their does not need to be as the curriculum is so individualized. I don't know if you are familiar with charter schools but it is more like that. The teacher are held responsible for the kids to reach their bench marks but the second grader are doing Shakespeare, snowshoeing out to the beaver dams, kids are playing musical instruments all over the school. The 7th graders were studying the 20's and 30's and they had turned the room into a New York City Speak Easy and they were all dressed in the time. Second graders were writing biographies and they were presenting them dressed as the person they were writing about. The town is beautiful. They have preserved a lot of land. The town consists of a library, town hall, playing fields, everything revolves around the school. The beach is beautiful and there is an ice cream shop at the beach but it is not quite the "town" it sound like you have now. I think it is great. The nurse of the school sends out anonymous e-mails and notices if families need winter coats or someone is having trouble paying their heating, and people of the town all chip in. Anyways I could talk and talk about North Hampton. The downfall it is expensive, but the taxes are lower than Durham and exeter. Let me know if you have any other questions or I would love to hear your feedback as you continue your research. Sorry if there is typos my little one is crawling all over me.

[Hopetomove]

What a small world. Our family is also in the early stages of moving from Cincinnati to NH/Maine area. Like you, we have 2 small kids who will be entering school in the next couple of years, so education is very important in our search for the right place to live. We hope to visit some of the towns in NH within the next couple of months. Looking at the map, looks like Durham, Dover and Rochester would be the most convenient locations for us. Have you done any research on those towns yet?

Originally Posted by Elron1

ribby84 and others on this thread - I just stumbled onto this forum and am finding your research on schools SO helpful - thank you!

My family is in the early stages of relocating from Cincinnati, OH. I have boys 2, 5, and 7 so schooling is our top priority. I was very attracted to Exeter from an overall feel - walkability, diversity, old and new neighborhoods, etc. but did not have any details on the schools format - we're in a district right now that is rated very high in the state, but the worksheets are un-ending! Do any of you know what types of 'gifted' programs exist in NH? Our program starts in the 2nd grade and you qualify based on the standard test results - do you know if Exeter or N. Hampton have these types of programs? Also, with Philips Exeter being right in town, I'm curious what opportunities this school might offer to the community at large in the way of enrichment activities or summer programs - does anyone have info on this? Thanks much in advance.

[theflynns]

Hello Hopetomove!

Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts...

You mentioned Durham, Rochester, and Dover. I live in Dover (relocated from MA seven years ago) and like yourself, have two small children. Durham has GREAT public schools; they are part of the Oyster River school system, consisting of Durham, Lee, and Madbury (all of these towns are beautiful!). However, there is a price for this school system and the beauty: property taxes. All other things being equal, a house in Durham will usually (always?) have a significantly higher tax load.

Dover schools are rated relatively well (for grammer schools, you can't beat the Garrison elementary school in the south end of town). We have three public elementary schools, one public middle school, and one pulic high school, all of which are rated well (as well as many private schools). The school system is one of the reasons we chose Dover over some other towns we considered initially. My oldest is in kindergarten, so my personal experience is limited. However, I have been very pleased with his experience thus far (he attends Horne Street school), and friends and neighbors have nothing but positive to say regarding their childrens experiences.

While both Dover and Rochester are cities (Durham is a town), Rochester definitely has more of a "city" feel, and not necessarily in a positive way. While the city has many beautiful areas and some great amenities and great people, there is a "darker" side to the city My husband and I work in healthcare in Rochester and have seen many of the problems firsthand.
Houses tend to be somewhat less expensive and taxes are lower, but I don't think it would be my first choice.

Check out the web-site greatschools.net (was that already mentioned in this thread?) Some good numbers to look at for comparison purposes!

Good Luck!

[Hopetomove]

Dear theflynns,

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. We are considering a short trip up there in May to drive around and get a feel for the different towns and neighborhoods. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start? You mentioned Durham, Lee and Madbury, any others to add?
Also, I would assume that property taxes a little lower in Dover?
Thanks for any info you can provide. I am very excited at the thought of moving, although it will probably be several months away still.

[theflynns]

Originally Posted by Hopetomove

Dear theflynns,

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. We are considering a short trip up there in May to drive around and get a feel for the different towns and neighborhoods. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start? You mentioned Durham, Lee and Madbury, any others to add?
Also, I would assume that property taxes a little lower in Dover?
Thanks for any info you can provide. I am very excited at the thought of moving, although it will probably be several months away still.

Dear Hoptomove,

In addition to the Oyster River schools, you may want to check out the Stratham/Exeter area (schools are rated very highly here as well). Also, I believe Northwood is a good choice (Coe-Brown the town's high school consistently rates well); Portsmouth as well.

I wish I could remember the URL, but if you "google" NH mil rates or property tax rates, you should be able to read/download the breakdown of tax rates by city.. For an example, our house in Dover (6yr old, 2100sf Cape on 0.25 acres has an assessed value around $300k and taxes around $5700 this year).

The other thing to keep in mind in looking up here is what services and/or amenities are important to you. Not all towns have full-time police, fire, or EMS; many towns do not have trash pick-up; many areas do not offer public water and sewer; many areas are not serviced by natural gas, etc...

One other thing...I don't know about where you are from, but many new developments up here in some of the towns you/I mentioned have pretty restrictive protective covenants (ie: not being able to keep a boat/trailer in your yard, etc)...

Hope this helps...Good luck; if you any more questions that you think I might be able to help with, drop me a line!

[farmbythesea]

Hi ribby84,

I am interested in your posts about north hampton elementary school vs exeter or stratham. Is n.hampton still your first choice? We are considering moving over the border from northshore ma and I am also interested in more of an alternative/creative approach to education (but still public). Your research is very helpful to me and I did indeed visit the schools website and found the philosophies impressive. Does the same hold true for the middle school? Also, can you tell me more about what you've heard about the high school? and your knowledge about charter school options? thanks so much!

[nibseysgirl]

Originally Posted by jlaneme

My family are moving to the Seacoast region and have been searching for a great place to live since this past June. We finally narrowed our search down to Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter, Stratham, Greenland, Hampton (not Hampton Beach), Rye and Madbury. Of course, after further research, we found we couldn't afford anything in Rye, Hampton or Greenland and very little in Portsmouth, Exeter or Stratham. That left us with Dover. Feeling pretty good about our decision, I started doing further research on the school systems, particularly the Woodman Park School and the Dover High School. The High School is very large - any feedback on the school system? I noticed on previous threads that drugs are an issue (as in most schools these days) and the fact that it's just so big - 1600 kids? Also noticed the test scores were a little on the low side. I have a child not yet 3 so it's a couple years away but it will be here before I know it and it's of particular concern for me. Also, what types of activities are offered for families of young children? Sense of community, etc? It's hard searching for a new home when you are looking from away. How is downtown Dover? I guess I know there are good and bad to every place but I'm trying to get an honest and good sense of the perception of Dover and the people who live there, the school system, the community, etc.

Are there bad vs good areas of Dover? The house we are looking at falls in the Woodman Park School area.

I appreciate any feedback you can provide - thanks!

Hello,
If you have noticed any of my posts of the last two days you will notice that I love Dover. Here are some answers to your ?s. Hope they help
Woodman park -excellent school. my daughter went for three years and always did very well and the school was very welcoming and caring. Loved it
DHS-loved it ...Had a jr in HS there..HE had issues so he ended up in the Alternative school but whether it be ALT or the HS itself I loved them. The teachers were very friendly, helpful and caring and great role models..
DRUGS- its a problem everywhere but not out of control...they have deputies there that keep as much trouble out as they can...DHS is a regional school and they educated children from several towns which is not unusal in NH..I never had any complaints with anyone at the school ..It is big but I dont know many schools that are not big now...We have five schools(HS) here in FL where I live and they are all over 1500 students and there is more on the way...
People- In a word AWESOME
Restraunts- Good and plentiful
Town- quaint, charming and small town feel...bricked streets and main streets, apple festival
Kids- Lots of events, activities etc for kids of all ages.
parks- At every school and in some areas outside of schools. Woodman park has a great one..Love it
Fishing, Sports....- Lots of great places...One is right at the bridge coming from Portsmouth on RT 16.
Love Dover...Hope you like it...if you move there...
Take Care
Lisa

[nibseysgirl]

Originally Posted by nibseysgirl

Hello,
If you have noticed any of my posts of the last two days you will notice that I love Dover. Here are some answers to your ?s. Hope they help
Woodman park -excellent school. my daughter went for three years and always did very well and the school was very welcoming and caring. Loved it
DHS-loved it ...Had a jr in HS there..HE had issues so he ended up in the Alternative school but whether it be ALT or the HS itself I loved them. The teachers were very friendly, helpful and caring and great role models..
DRUGS- its a problem everywhere but not out of control...they have deputies there that keep as much trouble out as they can...DHS is a regional school and they educated children from several towns which is not unusal in NH..I never had any complaints with anyone at the school ..It is big but I dont know many schools that are not big now...We have five schools(HS) here in FL where I live and they are all over 1500 students and there is more on the way...
People- In a word AWESOME
Restraunts- Good and plentiful
Town- quaint, charming and small town feel...bricked streets and main streets, apple festival
Kids- Lots of events, activities etc for kids of all ages.
parks- At every school and in some areas outside of schools. Woodman park has a great one..Love it
Fishing, Sports....- Lots of great places...One is right at the bridge coming from Portsmouth on RT 16.
Love Dover...Hope you like it...if you move there...
Take Care
Lisa

PS
Downtown Dover is quaint and quiet..>it has traffic but not a huge amount. As far as living in Downtown I wouldnt but I dont like to be in the center of anywhere...There is alot to offer in Dover...They have a great website you can check out..I dont have it on me but if I come across it I will send it your way. It will answer alot of your ?s....and you can see it for yourself...A great town...I would move back if I moved back to the North without question...as a matter of fact its the only place I would even consider if I ever went back to New England...I just loved it.