Bluewater Elementary School
Niceville, FL 32578
Phone: (850) 833-4240
Fax: (850) 833-4232
District: Okaloosa
GreatSchools Rating
public • Grades PK,KG,1,2,3,4,5 • 818 students
Bluewater Elementary School, a public school located in Niceville, FL, serves grades PK-5 in the Okaloosa County School District.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 8 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.
Bluewater Elementary School is a public school located in Niceville, FL. 818 students attend Bluewater Elementary School.
School Ratings
| Category | Rating | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Test Scores | 9/10 | The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Florida Assessment of Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education, and using 2025 Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education. |
| Student Growth | 6/10 | The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Florida Department of Education. |
Posted: August 25, 2026
Honestly its not a bad school but all they would need to do to be better is provide full information. My child is using ClassLink. Did you know theres an app which is compatible with a phone? Here is the schools code. But no, none of that was provided just the website to use on a computer. Not to mention so much time is spent on tablets, even though study after study has been done to prove that Screen Time is horrible for children. Last year, my sons teacher informed him that if he didnt do well on his end of year test, it would reflect badly on the school. Are you kidding me? No third grader needs to be informed of that. Honestly, its gotten ridiculous. Bring back paper testing. Bring back communication with parents. And dont you dare tell the children of your school that the rating of your school relies on them that is atrocious!
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
A safe school. Would definitely recommend it.
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: February 26, 2026
Posted: December 18, 2022
Love BWE! Teachers go above and beyond for their students!!!!
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: December 18, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Wow, this is not a great school at all. There is a lot of positive buzz about it. There are surprising amount of bullying and not anything being done about it. The education is barely adequate to make me comfortable sending the kids on to the next grade. We have been in other schools and they had over communicated to the point we thought it was too much. Not the case here tho. You won't have much communication here and most likely any student will be able to bully your child here just because of the disconnect. The school is not a reason to settle in this community. You will be sorely disappointed.
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: May 1, 2022
Posted: April 8, 2021
We researched all the surrounding schools and spent an extra $100,000 to purchase a house in Bluewater to put our children in this school. My child has dyslexia and I wanted to best professional educators in the area. Imagine my surprise when instead of developing a federally mandated IEP for a student with learning disabilities, my child was placed in ESOL. ESOL is a great program for students who speak languages other than English, however, my child did not speak any other languages. I expected such great teachers and administrators to be cognizant of the fact that a dyslexic student may be unable to make letter/sound associations. I did not expect them to attribute this to a language barrier that did not exist. Moreover, the teachers that continued to treat my family as if we did not speak English for years after having my child removed from ESOL classes were just too much. (Again-We dont speak any other languages!!) We finally decided to just homeschool instead.
Posted: April 8, 2021
Posted: April 8, 2021
Posted: April 8, 2021
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Posted: April 8, 2021
Posted: April 8, 2021
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: November 10, 2018
This was profoundly a bad experience for my family. Staff as well as the SRO, treated us in a very unkind, unprofessional, apparently against protocal manner that was completely unwarranted. I hope with all my heart that no other parent deals with I dealt with.
Posted: November 10, 2018
Posted: February 12, 2018
Hours of homework for 5th graders! This is stressful and unnecessary.
Posted: February 12, 2018
Posted: February 12, 2018
Posted: February 12, 2018
Posted: February 12, 2018
The Ese department does not have sufficient funds to support children adequately on IEP's. What they do offer is woefully inadequate. They have no problem retaining your child though. If you have a child with learning problems avoid this school!
Posted: February 12, 2018
Posted: February 12, 2018
Dreadful experience. I cannot wait to move on. My children have attended excellent schools prior to this year and excelled academically. This school has a standard that just makes children and parents miserable and all of the teachers there have bought into it. If you want a well rounded education look elsewhere.
Posted: January 12, 2017
The kids are not accepting of new students.
Posted: January 12, 2017
Posted: January 12, 2017
Posted: January 12, 2017
Posted: January 12, 2017
Posted: January 12, 2017
BWE does not live up to the 10 on GreatSchools.
Posted: August 3, 2016
Teacher/ parent relations needs improvement. Individual student success seems to lag due to a degree of teacher apathy. Out of three years our experience with this school was the worst we've had as a family in 25 years, 3 children and many different schools due to military relocations. So we've seen the gamut of schools. I am very disappointed with our experience with this school, from the first year, until my child exited. I will tell anyone that asks exactly why.
Posted: August 3, 2016
Posted: June 10, 2016
Posted: June 10, 2016
If your child is struggling consider an alternative education, they may not improve at this school, but be shuffled along to count as attendance.
Posted: June 10, 2016
I think it depends on the teacher. My child struggles with Language arts and math concepts and has not improved in three years of attending at this school. I received a call to replace broken crayons that my second grader did, and not when he was struggling with understanding pronouns which severely made his grade drop. Teacher/Parent communication is severely lacking and I've only had one experience with a communicative teacher, in three years, and six teachers.
Posted: December 19, 2015
Posted: December 19, 2015
My son attended Bluewater from 2nd-5th (now in 6th) and I loved the school! Parents are always welcome in the classroom and there are opportunities for every parent to volunteer. One of my sons teachers would let him come in early and/or stay later in the afternoon because he is adhd and needed a quiet environment to get his work done and often worked one on one with him. Very caring teachers and staff!
Posted: August 29, 2015
Students learn in different ways. The right teacher can make or break a child's love for learning. I don't feel the principal does enough to place a child with a teacher who would bring out the best in them. I'm also not certain the school exceeds in optimizing the tools available to them.
Posted: August 29, 2015
My child has not been challenged at this school since moving from another 10 rated school in FL. Most teachers appear inexperienced. The principal and staff aren't welcoming and don't seem to care about getting to know parents. This area has a lot of military, so this school sees a lot of new students. I haven't heard of bullying or disciplinary issues with kids, so that is why I gave it a better rating than "bad".
Posted: December 2, 2014
My daughter struggles in Reading. She was not taught phonics in kindergarten or 1st grade. She was instructed by a sight word based curriculum. I asked for help in first grade and received none. She's now in 2nd and way behind the curve ball. But how is one supposed to succeed on reading tests that are 30-60 questions long every Friday when the foundation in reading isn't there. The principal is not supportive nor does she show any care for anyone other than herself. It's all for show. As long as the school's data looks good on paper, nothing else matters.
Posted: May 22, 2014
We moved to this area in Nov 2013. My child improved a whole grade level in reading and math in just a few months. We are so happy. My child also loves school, loves homework and is a completely different child since the move. Thank you to the teachers and staff for their dedication to making sure kids master each subject. Also what a joy that the office and staff make an effort to know the children personally. No child is ever on the back burner. Care and support for each child to succeed in their education and their social life with others is very important at BWE.
Posted: April 26, 2014
BWE is awesome and all staff from teachers to front office staff rock! They know the kids so it is worth your while to get to know the teachers and staff too. Best before and after school care along with summer camp! My daughter started out in Project Child, which is sad to say that the school can not offer anymore but is now in Team Quest and is challenged and learning a lot! My only 2 complaints are creative writing is not year round and that we have common core but all schools do!
Posted: April 17, 2014
Just moved into this school and so far it does not live up to its 10 rating or A+ rating. Every time I go into the front office I am barely spoken to. They don't want to get to know your children, the principal has not introduced themselves to us and the bullying on the bus is not handled fully. In gym my kids run mile after mile, they have not played any games or taught anything new. The teachers my children have want no one in their classrooms to volunteer. So disappointing, we moved into this schools zoning area and are very disappointed.
Posted: March 11, 2014
My child was just a number! And the PTA was by invitation ONLY! Such a joke. The principal didn't know her students or her parents and the only teacher we liked moved as soon as she could get out the door. We had problems with a specific teacher and were informed that the principal had a stack of complaints about her...too bad they were friends outside of school. Nothing was ever done!
Posted: August 23, 2013
its an excellent school with excellent enviornment.im satisfied to send my daughter to this school.
Posted: June 17, 2012
My children have had a wonderful experience at this top notch school. We researched all the schools in the area and are very pleased with all aspects of Bluewater Elementary. They are getting a private school education at a first rate public school. Parental involvement is incredible, the principal is wonderful and each teacher goes above and beyond.
Reviews provided by GreatSchools™
| # | Name | Type | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Villa Tasso | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Niceville | FL | 2.6 mi | |
| 2 | Sunsail | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Destin | FL | 7.2 mi | |
| 3 | Hammock Bay | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Freeport | FL | 15.1 mi | |
| 4 | Sugar Creek | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Crestview | FL | 17.5 mi | |
| 5 | Grandview Heights | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Crestview | FL | 21.8 mi | |
| 6 | Mill Creek Farms | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Baker | FL | 24.6 mi | |
| 7 | Sundial Estates | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Milton | FL | 37 mi | |
| 8 | Berry Pines | Apartment Complex | Milton | FL | 39.1 mi | |
| 9 | Whiting Pines | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Milton | FL | 39.4 mi | |
| 10 | Tiger Point | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Gulf Breeze | FL | 39.5 mi | |
| 11 | Tiger Point (Willowood section) | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Gulf Breeze | FL | 39.5 mi | |
| 12 | Ashton Woods | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Milton | FL | 39.6 mi | |
| 13 | Eagle Crest | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Milton | FL | 40 mi | |
| 14 | Tanglewood Golf Course Community | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Milton | FL | 40.2 mi |
| # | Name | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bluewater Bay | Niceville | FL | 0.1 mi | |
| 2 | Niceville | Niceville | FL | 4.1 mi | |
| 3 | Valparaiso | Valparaiso | FL | 5.2 mi | |
| 4 | Destin | Destin | FL | 8.1 mi | |
| 5 | Shalimar | Shalimar | FL | 10 mi | |
| 6 | Fort Walton Beach | Fort Walton | FL | 12.8 mi | |
| 7 | Mary Esther | Mary Esther | FL | 15.2 mi | |
| 8 | Freeport | Freeport | FL | 16.8 mi | |
| 9 | Crestview | Crestview | FL | 21 mi | |
| 10 | Navarre | Navarre | FL | 27.9 mi | |
| 11 | Milton | Milton | FL | 38.2 mi |
| Base | Distance |
|---|---|
| Eglin AFB | 7.1 mi. |
| Duke Field | 12.5 mi. |
| Hurlburt Field | 16.6 mi. |
| Whiting Field NAS | 38.6 mi. |
| NSA Panama City | 44.9 mi. |
