Matthew Whaley Elementary

Matthew Whaley Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Williamsburg, Virginia, overseen by Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools. The school educates 485 students in grades K through 5.

Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools comprises 16 schools with combined enrollment of 11,371 students; Matthew Whaley Elementary is among them.

Demographically, Matthew Whaley Elementary lists that the most-represented group is White (41%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder comes out to 26% Hispanic, 23% Black, 7% multiracial, 3% Asian. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 68%.

On the resource side, Matthew Whaley Elementary reports 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.2:1. The state averages about 13.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 64% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

With demographic context factored in, Matthew Whaley Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 70.7%, the actual is 67.4%, a residual of -3.3 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Williamsburg city) records that the typical household earns roughly $75,604 per year, about 46% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Across Williamsburg city's 3 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,656 students), Matthew Whaley Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Waller Mill Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Matthew Whaley Elementary. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Matthew Whaley Elementary ranks 9th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 78.5%.

Matthew Whaley Elementary operates from a bedroom-community location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Matthew Whaley Elementary's enrollment has showed little movement since 2018, when it stood at 482 (now 485). White enrollment moved from 53% to 41% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 17.8:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Matthew Whaley Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.