Summary:
Zip code 23462 in Virginia Beach is home to two middle schools—Larkspur Middle and Bayside Middle—serving grades 6–8 within the Virginia Beach City Public Schools district. Larkspur is the larger school with 1,488 students, while Bayside enrolls 628 students. Both schools earn a 2-star rating, but Larkspur consistently ranks higher in the state: it placed in the 37th percentile for 2025–26 versus Bayside's 30th percentile. Larkspur also has a lower poverty rate (76% free/reduced lunch) compared to Bayside (96%), which helps explain some academic gaps. However, Larkspur's state percentile has declined for three straight years, from 46th to 40th to 37th, signaling a trend parents may want to monitor.
Despite Bayside's disadvantages, it receives more resources: $16,229 per student versus Larkspur's $13,929, and a much smaller student-teacher ratio (10.2:1 vs. 17.1:1). Even so, Larkspur generally posts stronger reading scores, especially in 6th grade (74.9% proficient vs. 61.1%), while both schools lag their district's reading averages by significant margins. Bayside actually outperforms Larkspur in 7th-grade math (46.3% vs. 40.2%) and 8th-grade math (58.2% vs. 48.4%), suggesting its smaller classes may be helping in some areas. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at both schools, with Larkspur at 15.4% and Bayside at 17.8%, both well above the district's 10.1% rate.
The clearest common strength is advanced coursework: both schools achieve near-perfect proficiency in Algebra I, Geometry, and Earth Science—Bayside hit 100% in advanced math. But grade-level math and science proficiency tells a different story, with 7th-grade math dropping to just 40% at Larkspur and 8th-grade science hovering around 54% at both schools. These two middle schools are among the more challenged in an otherwise strong district, and the data suggests that while advanced students thrive, the average student needs more support in on-grade math, reading, and attendance.
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