Summary:
Zip code 23874 contains just one elementary school, Meherrin Elementary, a small PK-5 school in Newsoms, Virginia, serving 218 students within Southampton County Public Schools.
Meherrin Elementary is a small, high-poverty school (89% free/reduced-price lunch) with a strong attendance record: only 6.3% chronic absenteeism, far better than the district's 8.7% and the state's 14.8%. In 2025-26, the school earned 2 stars and ranked 727th out of 1,111 Virginia elementary schools (35th percentile), improving from the 29th percentile in 2023-24. The biggest story academically is the wide gap between grade levels. Third grade math is a true strength at 93.55% proficiency — well above the state's 74.04% — and 4th grade math jumped 19 points to 83.78%. However, 5th grade performance is a serious concern: math (43.75%), reading (56.25%), science (56.25%), and Virginia Studies (53.13%) all lagged the state by wide margins. The school also experienced a sharp 20.5-point decline in 5th grade Virginia Studies, while 5th grade math stayed stuck at roughly 44% for a second straight year.
Overall proficiency (65.9%) trails the district (75.7%) and state (72.1%), although the school narrowed that gap slightly year-over-year. Lower grades are improving — 4th grade reading jumped 14 points — but upper-grade results remain flat. Despite a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.5:1 and per-student spending of $10,071, the school's instructional challenges appear concentrated in grades 4-5, particularly in reading and social studies. For parents, Meherrin supports a caring, stable environment with excellent attendance and small classes, but the school needs a focused effort on 5th grade achievement to build on its early-grade math success and keep improving its statewide ranking.
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