Canterbury Elem School

Set in Crystal Lake, Illinois, Canterbury Elem School is a middle-of-the-pack elementary school, overseen by Crystal Lake CCSD 47. It hosts 486 students across grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 28% larger than the state mean of about 381.

Crystal Lake CCSD 47 comprises 12 schools with combined enrollment of 6,889 students; Canterbury Elem School is among them.

In terms of who attends, Canterbury Elem School lists that the most-represented group is Hispanic (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 39% White, 2% Asian, 2% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 16%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Canterbury Elem School has 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.9:1, putting Canterbury Elem School tighter than the state norm the norm. About 55% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, McHenry County runs at roughly 35%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Canterbury Elem School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 40.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 28.2%.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for McHenry County put the typical household earns roughly $104,802 per year, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 4%. Across McHenry County's 89 public schools (combined enrollment of about 50,123 students), Canterbury Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Coventry Elem School, around 0.4 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Canterbury Elem School comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 47.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 8%: 449 students in 2018 compared to 486 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 47% to 54% across the same window. Class-load math has loosened: from 11.7:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.