Topsail High School

245 North Saint Johns Church Road

School District

Pender County
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

public

School Map for Pender County School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 29, 2024

I have had two sons attend this school. One was accepted by an Ivy league university, then got an MD. The other accepted by a Big Ten university and went on for his JD. The teachers and students were outstanding. Every place has detractors and people who would not do well anywhere. This school gave my boys the academic, social and cultural experience and skills they needed to succeed. The administration has since perhaps changed since my sons were there. Our community has grown. However, the basic ideas of this HS are the same. Note the above student’s statement. The writing is concise. The vocabulary shows that the student has been taught skills and techniques in communication. I challenge any parent to check the vocabulary and language skills of students in the same class around this state and compare.
Submitted by student on October 16, 2024

The new administration is so so awful, the worst in years.
Submitted by student on June 27, 2024

Here's the run down, I've attended this school for 3 years and I'm going into junior year. I've made great friends but this may not be the situation for everyone. Some kids are singled out. The classes are lacking in many areas, while they do offer some great extracurricular, the core classes are beyond me. It feels like your just trying to get through the day more and more especially now that the school is overcrowded. There's not enough parking spaces for students either. Half the teachers are incredible at what they do and some teachers obviously don't wanna be there. There's only so much I could say about safety because we had a student plan a shooting and wrote a "hit list" luckily they expelled him but there's been multiple threats. Every time the fire alarm goes off I wait to go out last because you never know. They offer zero classes for disabled students which leaves them to not get the extra help they need and they have to learn at the same pace as everyone else. I will say the staff/counselors who work with mental health are very accommodating. I have a 504 plan and an IEP which helps me because I struggle with severe mental health. There's not much I can say about family engagement because its not a key factor of this school. Bullying is prominent with many individuals and like a lot of high schools, there's a lot of drama. Especially in your freshman and sophomore year. Again this may not be everyone's experience but this has been mine.
Submitted by parent on March 06, 2024

This school is way over rated here on Great schools especially with Pender County passing a new bond for more elementary and middle schools. The past super Dr.H has a professional study done and the school is already overcrowded, the teachers do not get paid well and by 2030-31 the school will have over 36% more students because of the over building here! There is no funding by the county for sports or extra activities, staff changes often due to poor wages and ultimately the kids suffer. They do not support children with learning disabilities (there is no special ed), the staff and SROs do not do their jobs, and here it is all about how much money you have will determine your social class or how you are treated!
Submitted by student on December 06, 2023

This school is bad and i dont like it
Submitted by student on October 16, 2023

I'm a student here and everyday gets more lackluster. I seek no reason to come to school anymore and i'm in my junior year. The guidance counselors don't care to reply to individual students hardly, especially the male one. I have to get my own college advisor because I know how bad they are at helping students. The lady at the front desk in student services is who I'd tend to ask any questions (shes incredible and the sweetest). The parking situation is horrible, getting in and out of school can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour you'll never know. While some classes are nice like the adobe classes or the cooking ones, this school feels more like a daycare. I spend have my day playing a waiting game wondering when we were actually gonna learn valuable life lessons. The school also does awful with properly communicating to teachers and students. The teachers are as done as we are. I also wish there wasn't so much inconsistency in classrooms, one class I might get 8 bathroom passes PER semester and some I can go whenever I want. This school's biggest priority is giving money to the football team. Overall, there's so many areas where they could improve students'well being as well as the Teachers and Staff especially. The school board in our county also doesn't do much either. Also our population has doubled in the last year so we now have elementary students in trailers and we have almost zero room in the highschool. The positives are you can take early college courses so you can get out of here! I wish this wasn't my high school experience!
Submitted by parent on September 28, 2023

This school lacks in many areas; education, guidance, antiquated practices and processes, transportation. If you’re hoping your child will be prepared for college at the end of their senior year, this school is not for you. Guidance Dept is for lack of a better word, clueless. Although I do have to say the guidance secretary is extremely knowledgeable and way more helpful than anyone. She would make a marvelous guidance counselor, too bad she’s not. If you have questions regarding classes, clubs, college prep, etc you might as well do your own research and I suggest hiring outside for college portfolio application readiness. If you talk to students who have transferred here from another state they are all in consensus they feel dumber after classes here. Honor Classes here would be like a level 2 at any another school in our previous state. As an FYi, transportation is a joke. If your child is dependent on getting to and from school on a bus you can regularly expect delays picking up and dropping off. At least once a week you will get a text or call stating busses are running anywhere from 40 min to an hr behind. It’s maddening that school has been in session since end of August and they still can’t get this regulated. The two positives I can state about this school is the support they have for mental health and their partnership with an outside counseling program that comes to the school to work with students in need. The other positive is the schools head secretary. She not only takes the time to know every single student but she IS the face of the school. She is AMAZING! Lastly (small side note) for such a big school you would think they would have an attendance secretary, designated attendance phone line, etc but they do not. First experience calling a student out was confusing and difficult.
Submitted by parent on October 21, 2022

This school is ok the cooking classes are great everything else sucks
Submitted by student on April 17, 2021

the most racist school i've ever been too
Submitted by student on October 09, 2019

It is amazing, I think this should be a 10/10. It is the best school I’ve ever attended. I saw other comments talking bad about equality... lies!! This school is perfect.
Submitted by other on August 10, 2017

This school lacks in equity in race some students are treated better than others
Submitted by parent on June 30, 2015

This school is amazing! My child has special needs (he has an IEP), so we have to request special help from his teachers on a daily basis. These teachers go above and beyond our expectations. They always keep you in the loop and most of them will send home several progress reports so that you can see how your child is doing before the official report card comes out. This helps you in making sure that your child is caught up and has turned in all assignments, etc. There was a new principal last school year who put a few new practices into place. Though I'm not pleased with them, we have adapted with no problems. There is one person in the office who can be less than pleasant, but that's really the only negative I can think of.
Submitted by student on May 01, 2014

I must honestly say, this school is quite the bees knees! It is certainly satisfactory for the average citizen to recieve an education of an honorable level!
Submitted by parent on December 25, 2012

Having moved from Fairfax County, Virginia, the bar was high when looking for a new school for my high school son. We searched the greater SE NC region before choosing to come to Topsail HS. Mr. Skipper was excellent his first year and Mr. Simmon has done well with Marcus having moved on. There are always issues with any school system but Pender County has done well and has modern programs without much of the politically correct nonsence we experienced at Lake Braddock. Class sizes and technology are very good. Our research paid off and we are quite pleased. We would prefer email/ TXT messages vs. phone recordings but they do communicate well.