Shirley C. Heim Middle

Shirley C. Heim Middle is one of the average-sized middle schools in Stafford, Virginia, overseen by Stafford County Public Schools, with 953 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8. That puts it 27% above the typical public school in Virginia, which averages around 750 students.

Stafford County Public Schools comprises 32 schools with combined enrollment of 31,812 students; Shirley C. Heim Middle is among them.

On the student-mix side, Shirley C. Heim Middle lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 40%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 26% White, 21% Black, 7% multiracial, 6% Asian. By comparison, Stafford County as a whole is about 17% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Shirley C. Heim Middle records 64 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.1:1, putting Shirley C. Heim Middle higher than the state norm the norm. About 54% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Stafford County runs at roughly 45%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Shirley C. Heim Middle sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 73.4%; actual is 54.8%, a gap of -18.6 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Stafford County indicate the typical household earns roughly $137,807 per year, roughly 44% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 3% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Shirley C. Heim Middle is one of 41 public schools in Stafford County (combined enrollment of about 31,812 students).

Nearest neighbor: Widewater Elementary, around 0.3 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Shirley C. Heim Middle ranks 9th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 63.5%.

Shirley C. Heim Middle operates from a commuter-belt location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count held roughly steady: 964 students in 2018 compared to 953 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 39% to 26% across the same window.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Shirley C. Heim Middle typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.