Bethel High School
Hampton, VA 23666
Phone: (757) 825-4400
Fax: (757) 825-4465
District: Hampton City Public Schools
GreatSchools Rating
public • Grades 9,10,11,12 • 1769 students
Bethel High School, a public school located in Hampton, VA, serves grades 9-12 in the Hampton City Public Schools.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 7 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.
Bethel High School is a public school located in Hampton, VA. 1769 students attend Bethel High School.
School Ratings
| Category | Rating | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Test Scores | 7/10 | 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 Virginia Standards of Learning data from Virginia Department of Education, and using 2025 Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course data from Virginia Department of Education. |
| College Readiness | 7/10 | The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Virginia Department of Education, using 2025 demographic data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and using 2025 demographic data from Virginia Department of Education. |
Posted: April 15, 2026
Posted: April 15, 2026
Posted: April 15, 2026
Posted: April 15, 2026
BHS has been the worst high school I've ever been to.
From students CONSTANTLY fighting weekly to students TRYING to get suspended to get time off. I WISH I had done virtual Virginia and not went to HCS.
If you are considering putting you're child into HCS think twice. Some students don't show up most days (In my classes). If students do show up they smoke out the bathrooms and cause issues in class. Im a student and I had to put my school over my Mental health and have had episodes due to stress since middle school. All of HCS has a roach problem too. (But what school doesn't)
MOST teachers are respectful enough to students. But the issue lies with the students constantly (Excuse my language) causing sh!t everywhere!
I mean for gods sake they don't deal with students smoking in class or in the bathrooms.
From fights all the time to a stabbing happening in 2023. Most if not ALL of HCS is this bad.
I would rather have paid the 2.5K to go to VVA and went online. SOME teachers (NOT ALL) will push grades over mental health and put students alone to have them "Focus" or something like that.
I have had 4 different math teachers in my 3 years at HCS and have only passed ONE semester of math overall. If that doesn't say something then I don't know what does. The highschools are the issue though (And some of the middle schools) the elementary schools are fine in HCS. The highschools are purely chaos 24/7. I mean its constantly hell. Im constantly stressed 24/7 365.
My final verdict:
Dont enroll you're kids here unless its the last option. Dont put them through what I had to put up with for 3 years.
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Posted: January 27, 2024
Grade inflation is rampant. Parents bully teachers into passing students.
Posted: June 1, 2021
I am an alumni & when I was a student there the teachers help alot.
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 1, 2021
Posted: June 26, 2018
More focussed with gossip than anything. Will show no interest and rather hurt your self esteem than help build.
Posted: June 26, 2018
No effort is put in to students with learning differences they just separate and label them.
Posted: June 26, 2018
They engage in bullying along with the students.
Posted: June 26, 2018
I hated this school it did nothing but give me depression and made me want to drop out. The staff where highly unencouraging and always told me I wasn't going to be anything or make anything of myself because I was having a child 10th year. But in leaving I finished high and graduated college twice with my son in toll despite they backlash and constant bullying with the students. The staff would bring me down and shame me along with the students as they did with some others. One child took they life because of it and was a friend to my sister. I'm just glad I got out of that school when I did.
Posted: June 26, 2018
The teachers care more for gossip with students than their achievement
Posted: June 26, 2018
They bring you down rather than up
Posted: June 26, 2018
The staff encourages disrespect 10 times more than respect by engaging in disrespectful acts with the students.
Posted: April 22, 2015
Lack of communication all the way from guidance to teachers. Teachers show lack of interest in students well being and grades. Students aren't given proper tools to succeed. Little to no after/before school for tutoring or help. Emails and phone calls go unanswered for days, sometimes weeks at a time. I pulled my daughter out of this school in her freshman year.
Posted: April 15, 2015
There is such a lack of communication between parents, teachers and guidance counselors even with the technology we have available. The Guidance counselors don't do what they say they will. For example, my son wasn't turning in homework so the guidance counselor stated that she would have him write his homework down and then verify that he, in fact was turning it in. This didn't happen even once. They don't care and if you email them you'll discover that THEY should be in English class themselves. I'm all for email having a different level of formality but when you can't form a complete sentence and use spell check you're in the wrong field. Professionalism.
Posted: August 16, 2014
I am glad my son has graduated and he is out of that place!!! Very little communication on when school pictures are being taken. With all the things that go on during senior year I was making several to two two staff member in charge of the senior class for information and they NEVER called me back! Numerous other times overt the years as well. I had to go up to that school on a number of occasions hunting down teachers for information. The Dean of Boys and Girls seem like they get paid by the amount of students they drag in their office. The dean of girls assumed on 2 occasions that my son was doing something that he actually wasn't. I had to go and ask more questions and come to find our she overreacted. I cannot stand that school!!!!!!
Posted: August 6, 2014
My son is a rising junior and the school has definitely approved since he was a freshman. He has had great teachers both years! Mr. Saunders is a great principal and care very much about the students. As in all high schools there are problems if kids but glad on the improvement the administration has taken.
Posted: April 16, 2014
My son is a freshman at Bethel. He has come home and told me about several fights in the school. This is typical of high school, but the teachers tend to not get involved. Of course, I'm not sure I blame them. The worst part about the school is the lack of communication from the teachers; not all teacher, but the majority that my son has this year. Several of his teacher lag behind putting grades into the system so that we can monitor his success. Buy the time grades are entered, it's too late to do anything about it. The office staff is not very friendly either. The JROTC instructor (one of them) is also a coach. He has the student repeat after him in ebonics. I have taught my children the correct way to speak since they began talking. I have a problem with this. This is a low class school.
Posted: February 14, 2013
I am a parent of two Bethel HS alumni and currently a Sophomore. Fortunately, my children were all Talented and Gifted so regardless of the overcrowding and few "bad apples" they excelled. For the most part, Bethel guidance counselors are horrible and should be replaced. I could sit around pointing out the negatives but I don't believe in making excuses because you can control your academic destiny. My two kids graduated with top honors w/ over $100K in Presidential Scholarships...and none were for sports! My other kid is doing quite awesome. Don't judge BHS by the negative reviews. Like most schools in the country, budget constraints are a problem. Bethel HS, in comparison with Kecoughtan, Phoebus, and Hampton which are all HS within the Hampton City School District don't reflect much variation in academic achievements, sports, teacher to student ratio, etc. Hampton School District is rich in cultural diversity opposed to Yorktown and other outlying school districts which reflect predominantly a white student body. The sadness is that most urban students don't realize the "social conditioning" of being taught to think "white is superior and minorities are inferior."
Reviews provided by GreatSchools™
| # | Name | Type | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Courtney Trace | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 1.3 mi | |
| 2 | Tabb Lakes | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Yorktown | VA | 3.7 mi | |
| 3 | Brick Kiln | Apartment Complex | Newport News | VA | 5.4 mi | |
| 4 | Carriage Hills | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 7.3 mi | |
| 5 | Shore Park | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 7.8 mi | |
| 6 | Fox Hill- Grandview | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Hampton | VA | 8 mi | |
| 7 | Eagle Harbor | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Carrollton | VA | 8.7 mi | |
| 8 | Morgan's Trace | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 9.1 mi | |
| 9 | Stoneybrook Estates | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 9.7 mi | |
| 10 | Denbigh | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Newport News | VA | 10.4 mi | |
| 11 | Lochhaven | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Norfolk | VA | 11.5 mi | |
| 12 | Mariners Watch | Apartment Complex | Norfolk | VA | 11.6 mi | |
| 13 | Long Point | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Portsmouth | VA | 11.7 mi | |
| 14 | Burbage Grant | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Suffolk | VA | 11.8 mi | |
| 15 | Riverfront at Harbour View | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Suffolk | VA | 12 mi | |
| 16 | Colony Point Apartments | Apartment Complex | Norfolk | VA | 12.3 mi | |
| 17 | Residences at Hampton Roads Crossing | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Suffolk | VA | 12.3 mi | |
| 18 | Wexford Terrace/Colony Point | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Norfolk | VA | 12.6 mi | |
| 19 | Larchmont | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Norfolk | VA | 12.9 mi |
| # | Name | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tabb | Tabb | VA | 5.1 mi | |
| 2 | Poquoson | Poquoson | VA | 7 mi | |
| 3 | Carrollton | Carrollton | VA | 10.3 mi | |
| 4 | Fort Eustis | Newport News | VA | 10.6 mi | |
| 5 | Harbour View Area | Suffolk | VA | 11.9 mi | |
| 6 | Smithfield | Smithfield | VA | 12.1 mi |
| Base | Distance |
|---|---|
| Langley AFB | 3.9 mi. |
| Fort Monroe | 7.4 mi. |
| Fort Eustis | 10.8 mi. |
| Norfolk Naval Base | 11.5 mi. |
| Joint Staff J7 Suffolk | 11.8 mi. |
| Coast Guard Yorktown | 11.9 mi. |
| Coast Guard Portsmouth VA | 12.4 mi. |
| Portsmouth Naval Medical Center | 15.8 mi. |
| Yorktown Naval Weapons Station | 15.8 mi. |
| Norfolk Naval Shipyard | 17.9 mi. |
| Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base | 18.2 mi. |
| Fort Story | 25.2 mi. |
| Oceana NAS | 27.8 mi. |
| Coast Guard Station Milford Haven | 30.7 mi. |
| Dam Neck Naval Station | 32 mi. |
| NSA Northwest Annex | 35.3 mi. |

