Hampton Falls for a young family?? (Portsmouth, Exeter: rentals, houses, neighborhoods)

[StepRN3]

I am looking for some information on Hampton Falls. Could anyone describe the town at all? How are the schools? Is it safe? Are there any conveniences around it? Thanks!

[dognh]

Hampton Falls is the only coastal town without a beach front (it's marsh).
It is mostly rural with nice homes and some exclusive neighborhoods. As well as fabulous apple orchards and tree farms, like Applecrest.

It's commercial district is along route 1 which runs along it's eastern edge.

Hampton Falls is convenient to both 101 and 95. Shopping can be easily reached either along route 1 or in the Exeter area which borders HF to the northwest.

taxes are midrange. Schools are good through grade 8. Hampton Falls shares high school with neighboring Hampton. Others can chime in but I'm not sure of the quality of Winnicunnet

[fishnfool]

I've always been told that Winnicunnet is as good as Exeter, it just doesn't get as much mention. That was from our realtor who has been in the area for decades. I have no first hand knowledge...only hearsay.

As far as the town goes, dog summed it up well. You're sort of locked in between Hampton, Seabrook, Kensington, and Exeter so there are plenty of conveniences close by but no real centralized downtown. You'll probably shop on Rt 1 which can be a real pain in the summer though due to beach traffic.

I do love driving the back roads through there in the fall....very pretty.

[Annabelle]

Originally Posted by fishnfool

I've always been told that Winnicunnet is as good as Exeter, it just doesn't get as much mention. That was from our realtor who has been in the area for decades. I have no first hand knowledge...only hearsay.

People can tell you what they think you want to hear but the NH DOE data doesn't support that Winnacunnet is as "good" as Exeter when you compare the 4-year cumulative drop out rates. Exeter's is 3.8% and Winnacunnet's is 11.3%.

Here is a link to the 2007-2008 data for all NH high schools.

http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/...02007-2008.pdf

[NH2008]

If we had decided to move to the Seacoast, we would have lived in Hampton Falls. The huge orchard inspired the orchard setting in THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (according to our realtor, so take it with a grain of salt...but John Irving did grow up in Exeter.) It's very pretty and preserves some of the rural character of the town. Unlike Rye, HF has a town square with green, although unfortunately it is pretty built up which turned me off a bit. It's near the ocean and Portsmouth and less than an hour from Boston. The schools are supposed to be quite good until high school when they merge with other towns, at which point we would have probably chosen to switch to private school based on the feedback we got. Our realtor's friend teaches at Winnacunnet and had some real horror stories, and the scores aren't very impressive. There are plenty of old houses and new construction. I think you would be very safe in HF.

[fishnfool]

but the NH DOE data doesn't support that Winnacunnet is as "good" as Exeter when you compare the 4-year cumulative drop out rates. Exeter's is 3.8% and Winnacunnet's is 11.3%.

Well stats are stats...but you really have to take then with a grain of salt. Just because a few more kids drop out at one school vs. another doesn't really tell me one school is "better" than another. I think dropping out is a result of poor parenting, not poor education.

And sort of off topic...but people in most of these threads keep asking what school is "good", vs. "bad". No doubt some schools have better teachers, more resources etc...and that does help for sure...but in the end a good school will not make a good student. Proper parenting will....and in the end I feel like that is what matters most. If you raise your kids correctly, they will excel regardless of which school they attend so personally I wouldn't freak out if one school is ranked slightly lower than another. (if they are ranked at total opposite ends then sure...I'd avoid it).

[Annabelle]

There are a variety of reasons why the drop out rate may be higher at Winnacunnet than it is Exeter High but a major factor of which I know from experience is that one of the issues that WHS teachers, counselors, administrators, etc. have to deal with that many of the other seacoast high schools do not is the # of families who move into the Hampton Beach rentals after Labor Day and must vacate by Memorial Day so you have many new students coming late and then leaving early. I came in contact with students who were on their 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th school in the last 8 years and some hadn't completed a full year of school in several years because they were always moving. How can students in this situation possibly succeed in school when they have no stable home life? This certainly falls into the bad parenting category but it is an issue that the Hampton School system is always dealing with to the best of their ability. Winnacunnet is a good high school but it does have it's share of issues that they must take on where other school systems to not.

[fishnfool]

good point..

[buck naked]

drop out rates can be fudged....some schools are more honest than others. Some schools only count the Seniors that drop out, while some schools include all grades.

there were studies that concluded some schools do not include disabled students in the count, nor do they count low-income students or students that don't speak english.

Education advocates have been warning that lower-performing groups of students, such as minorities, low-income and disabled students, may choose or be encouraged to drop out as standardized testing pressures increase. They don't want to lose their federal funding and funding is based on the results of tests.