The top reported proficiency rate is 75% in Math. The lowest is 63% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Swasey Central School
Swasey Central School sits on Middle Road in Brentwood, a small, predominantly residential town in New Hampshire's Seacoast region. Brentwood is the county seat of Rockingham County, with the Rockingham County Complex on North Road serving as a major civic and employment anchor. The town has no traditional downtown core; retail is dispersed along Calef Road, and the built environment is a patchwork of scenic rural roads, antique homes, farms, and open spaces. The Mary E. Bartlett Library and the Town Office Building on Dalton Road function as civic gathering points. Brentwood is car-dependent by nature, with limited walkability, though a park-and-ride lot off Calef Road offers bus service to Boston, and Route 111A east into Exeter connects to COAST bus service and an Amtrak Downeaster station. The town has grown slowly and actively works to preserve its rural character, with a municipal budget cap in place and a planned shift to official ballot referendum format for town meetings starting in 2027. No large-scale housing developments surfaced in publicly reported material.
Swasey Central is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through grade five, and it is the only elementary school in the Brentwood School District. Students above grade six travel to regional schools in SAU 16, including Cooperative Middle School and Exeter High School in neighboring communities. The school's enrollment is modest for its grade band, with class sizes that run small enough that each tested grade has between roughly three dozen and mid-fifty students. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with only a handful of students identifying as Asian, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, or two or more races. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is very low, which aligns with the town's broader economic profile. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those population sizes are unknown here.
Academic results from the most recent New Hampshire SAS assessments are a clear strength. In mathematics, third and fourth graders performed at a high level, with the large majority of students reaching proficiency. Fifth grade math proficiency dipped somewhat, with closer to three in five students proficient, which is a softer spot a parent may want to look into further with the school. English language arts results followed a similar pattern: third and fourth grade proficiency was strong, and fifth grade was moderately lower but still solid. Science was tested only in fifth grade, and proficiency there landed in the middle range. Participation was at or near full across all tested grades and subjects.
Because Swasey serves only the elementary band, there is no graduation rate, no AP or career pathway data, and no high school course access information to report; those measures do not apply to a school that ends at grade five. The same is true for civil-rights and discipline data, which was not provided. Staffing and attendance figures were not available in the data we received. Program offerings beyond the standard elementary curriculum were not listed. No multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot speak to whether these proficiency levels represent improvement, stability, or decline over time.
Housing in Brentwood is expensive relative to both state and national benchmarks. The typical home value in the school's zip code sits well above the state benchmark and far above the national figure, and the median listing price in Rockingham County runs even higher. Estimated monthly mortgage costs dwarf typical rent, and the price-to-income ratio is steep, meaning a family moving into the Swasey attendance area should expect a high cost of ownership. Rental options are limited in a town this rural and residential. The county housing market shows active and new listings trending upward, with homes moving relatively quickly and demand scores running high, so competition for available inventory is real.
What this adds up to is a small, academically strong elementary school in an affluent, rural, slow-growing community that values its quiet character. Families drawn to open space, scenic roads, and a tight local school community will find a good fit here, provided the housing cost is manageable and the car-dependent lifestyle suits them. The transition to regional middle and high schools in SAU 16 is a structural feature of growing up in Brentwood, something parents should understand early when thinking about the full K-12 pathway.
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