Forest Elementary

Forest Elementary operates as a modestly sized K-5 school in Forest, Virginia, run under Bedford County Public Schools. Current enrollment sits at 384 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 23% smaller than the state mean of about 499.

Bedford County Public Schools runs 19 schools in total, collectively educating 8,930 students. Forest Elementary is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Forest Elementary logs that White students make up the majority at 71%. The remainder reads as 9% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 5% Black. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 86%.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Forest Elementary has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 17.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.8:1, putting Forest Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 18% of students at Forest Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Bedford County runs at roughly 59%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Forest Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 83.2%; this one delivers 87.1%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Bedford County indicate median household income runs about $78,937, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Forest Elementary is one of 22 public schools in Bedford County (combined enrollment of about 8,930 students).

The closest other public school is Jefferson Forest High, roughly 0.3 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Forest Elementary. On composite proficiency, Forest Elementary comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 75.1%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Forest Elementary has climbed 7%, going from 359 students in 2018 to 384 in 2025. The White share of enrollment contracted from 79% to 71% over that span.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.