Southside Elementary

Southside Elementary is one of the mid-sized K-5 schools in Dinwiddie, Virginia, run under Dinwiddie County Public Schools, with 446 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5.

Southside Elementary is one of 7 schools operated by Dinwiddie County Public Schools, a district that caters to 4,147 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Southside Elementary logs that 36% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 35% Black, 21% Hispanic, 8% multiracial. By comparison, Dinwiddie County as a whole is about 64% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, Southside Elementary has 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.9:1. The state averages about 13.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 93% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Southside Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 62.7%, the actual is 60.5%, a residual of -2.2 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Dinwiddie County indicate the typical household earns roughly $83,704 per year, 19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Dinwiddie County's 9 public schools (combined enrollment of about 4,147 students), Southside Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Dinwiddie County High, roughly 2.8 miles away. Within five miles, there are 4 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Southside Elementary at 4th of 8; the average score across the group is 53.7%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Southside Elementary has ticked down 13%, going from 513 students in 2018 to 446 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 15% to 21%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 19.6:1 in 2018 to 13.9:1 in 2025.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.