South Elementary

South Elementary is a K–5 school in Hingham, Massachusetts, serving 496 students — the second-largest of the town's four elementary schools — within a Hingham district that ranks 22nd of 351 in Massachusetts. South has earned 5 stars in every year on record and currently sits in the 91st percentile of Massachusetts elementary schools, placing it among the top ~10% in the state.

Its subject profile is unusual: science and math are strengths, while English language arts is the soft spot. In 2025–26, 82.5% of students were proficient in science — roughly double the state rate — and 69.53% in math, slightly above the district average. ELA, however, came in at 62.50%, more than 10 points below the district and last among the four Hingham elementaries, including East Elementary School and Wm L Foster Elementary. ELA proficiency has fallen four years running (78.6 → 62.5), and grade 5 ELA stands at 62.5 against a district figure of 75.63. For context, South still outpaces every nearby Weymouth school — the strongest, Thomas W. Hamilton Primary School, sits 17 percentile points lower — and performs close to Grace Farrar Cole in Norwell.

South also achieves its results with leaner resources than its Hingham peers: it has the highest student–teacher ratio (14.4) and the lowest per-pupil spending ($16,440 in 2020–21) among the town's elementaries, yet finishes 2nd of 4 in overall standing, behind Plymouth River. One standout is special education, where South ranks in the 95th percentile statewide — above its own overall standing and improving for three straight years. The question for families is whether the recent slide reflects a return toward the district norm or the start of an ELA-specific trend, since ELA is the only subject where South now trails its own district.