Topsail High

As a large four-year high school in Hampstead, North Carolina, Topsail High teaches 1,945 students from grades 9 through 12, part of Pender County Schools. By comparison, North Carolina's public schools average about 761 students each, so Topsail High sits 156% above that benchmark.

Topsail High is one of 19 schools operated by Pender County Schools, a district that teaches 11,073 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Topsail High reports that 82% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 8% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 3% Black.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 67 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 29.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 19.6:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 23% of students at Topsail High qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is lower than Pender County's rate of about 70%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Topsail High tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 71.7% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 69.7%.

Around the school, census data for Pender County shows the typical household earns roughly $80,396 per year, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Pender County runs 19 public schools (combined enrollment of about 11,073 students), of which Topsail High is one.

Topsail Annandale Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 4 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Topsail High comes 5th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 71.6%.

The campus sits in a low-density setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 32%: 1,476 students in 2018 compared to 1,945 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 86% to 82%. Class-load math has grew: from 19.8:1 in 2018 to 29.1:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.