Wrightsville Beach Elem

Wrightsville Beach Elem is a K-5 school of low-enrollment scale in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, one of the schools within New Hanover County Schools, serveing 280 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 40% below the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Wrightsville Beach Elem is one of 42 schools operated by New Hanover County Schools, a district that educates 24,791 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Wrightsville Beach Elem lists that 91% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school records 3% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, New Hanover County as a whole is about 77% White, so the school skews considerably more White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.5:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 9% of students at Wrightsville Beach Elem qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is below New Hanover County's rate of about 67%.

After controlling for student poverty, Wrightsville Beach Elem tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 76.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 88.6%.

Around the school, census data for New Hanover County shows median household income runs about $75,166, roughly 45% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, New Hanover County runs 50 public schools (combined enrollment of about 27,460 students), of which Wrightsville Beach Elem is one.

The closest other public school is Bradley Creek Elementary, roughly 2.9 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Wrightsville Beach Elem ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 69.7%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 18%: 342 students in 2018 compared to 280 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share declined from 10% to 3%. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 14.5:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.