South Laurel Middle School

Located at 223 S Laurel Rd, in London, Kentucky, South Laurel Middle School is a substantial middle-grades school that educates 837 students (grades 6 through 8), operated by Laurel County. Compared to the state average of about 558 students per school, that is 50% above typical.

Laurel County runs 18 schools in total, collectively educating 8,676 students. South Laurel Middle School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, South Laurel Middle School records that 92% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder reads as 4% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, The school currently runs with 52 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 70% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, South Laurel Middle School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 39.0%; this one delivers 54.1%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Laurel County indicate median household earnings sit near $57,771, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 17%. South Laurel Middle School is one of 20 public schools in Laurel County (combined enrollment of about 9,220 students).

The closest other public school is South Laurel High School, roughly 0.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts South Laurel Middle School at 5th of 7; the average score across the group is 61.1%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at South Laurel Middle School has declined 20%, going from 1,051 students in 2018 to 837 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 17.8:1 in 2018 to 16.1:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the South Laurel Middle School community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.