Canterbury Elementary School

As a very small K-5 school in Canterbury, New Hampshire, Canterbury Elementary School instructs 90 students from grades K through 5, overseen by Shaker Regional School District. Compared to the state average of about 249 students per school, that is 64% below typical.

Shaker Regional School District runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,137 students. Canterbury Elementary School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Canterbury Elementary School logs that 96% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school records 2% Hispanic.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 10 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 9.3:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.0:1, putting Canterbury Elementary School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 9% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is below Merrimack County's rate of about 25%.

After controlling for student poverty, Canterbury Elementary School sits in the top 10% of New Hampshire schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 57.8%; actual is 73.3%, +15.4 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Merrimack County indicate the typical household earns roughly $97,004 per year, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. In all, Merrimack County runs 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 17,429 students), of which Canterbury Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Boscawen Elementary School, around 3.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Canterbury Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Canterbury Elementary School at 1st of 8; the average score across the group is 42.0%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 24%: 118 students in 2018 compared to 90 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 12.0:1 in 2018 to 9.3:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.