The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in English language arts. The lowest is 40% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bournedale Elementary School
Bournedale Elementary School serves children from pre-kindergarten through second grade, making it exclusively an early-primary school. This means the academic measures that matter for older students, such as graduation rates and high school course offerings, simply do not apply here. The school occupies a relatively new building on a separate campus within the small village of Bournedale, a part of the town of Bourne on the mainland side of the Cape Cod Canal.
Bournedale itself is a quiet, low-density village. Much of its historic center was displaced by the construction and later expansion of the canal and surrounding highways. What remains is a residential landscape defined by peaceful views of the canal, an annual herring run, and the preserved Bournedale Village School, a one-room schoolhouse that now serves as a community meeting space. The village has no downtown; the town of Bourne identifies nearby Buzzards Bay as its commercial and civic hub. The school’s location is on a separated campus away from any village core, accessed by a road that was so new at the time of opening that it initially did not appear on maps.
The school itself was opened to replace two older elementary buildings, Otis Memorial and Ella F. Hoxie School, and represented a significant capital investment for the district. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it serves as the primary entry point for the Bourne Public Schools system. The student body is sizable for a school that covers only four grade levels. Racially and ethnically, the enrollment is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic, identify with two or more races, are Black, or are Asian. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, the number of students with individualized education plans, and English learner counts were not available in the data we reviewed.
State testing results were reported from the 2018-19 school year, and they reflect performance on the Next-Generation MCAS for grades three through eight. Because Bournedale Elementary currently serves only pre-kindergarten through second grade, those test scores are from a period when the school may have covered a wider grade range or from a different testing configuration. A parent looking at this data should note that it does not describe the academic performance of the current youngest students. The overall proficiency index for the school places it below the midpoint when compared with other schools across Barnstable County, but again, this index is based on results from older grade levels that the school no longer serves.
The housing market in Bournedale carries a high price point. Home values are substantially above the national benchmark, and rents are also high, reflecting the broader Cape Cod market. For many families, this means housing affordability is a real consideration. The broader town of Bourne is home to Joint Base Cape Cod and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, both major employers that shape the local economy and bring a mix of military and civilian families into the area. The Cape Cod Canal is the defining recreational anchor, with a paved bikeway, fishing, and year-round use.
This school is best understood as a new, dedicated early elementary facility in a village setting with limited commercial life and high housing costs. Families considering Bournedale Elementary should inquire directly about current early literacy and math programming, class sizes, and how the school supports young children in the transition to the district's upper elementary grades. The older test data, while available, does not shed light on the learning environment that today's pre-kindergartners and second graders actually experience.
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