Manchester West High School

I am a senior at West currently. The school has provided me with the a great education. I am in the decision process of my college search and I have several phenomenal schools to choose from. West provides its students with a quality education if they are willing to do the work and take the rigorous classes! Although the school's extracurriculars may be going down hill a bit due to Bedford students leaving, it can easily rise back up again if more Manchester and Hooksett students are willing to keep it alive. I take offense to some of the comments made here and am willing to vouch for the school West is. An education is what you make of it and anyone can learn and become successful if they work for it. In addition, the teachers are easily accessible and encourage their students to do well!
—Submitted by a parent

I am a senior at West currently. The school has provided me with the a great education. I am in the decision process of my college search and I have several phenomenal schools to choose from. West provides its students with a quality education if they are willing to do the work and take the rigorous classes! Although the school's extracurriculars may be going down hill a bit due to Bedford students leaving, it can easily rise back up again if more Manchester and Hooksett students are willing to keep it alive. I take offense to some of the comments made here and am willing to vouch for the school West is. An education is what you make of it and anyone can learn and become successful if they work for it. In addition, the teachers are easily accessible and encourage their students to do well!
—Submitted by a student

My oldest daughter attended West. I felt that most of the staff seemed overwhelmed by the students. The expectations for the students were not high and there was no guidance offered. We had a handful of teachers that really seemed to care, but also many that seemed to be just doing their job without any real interest.
—Submitted by a parent

I am currently a Senior at West. I have read the other reviews on this site and I find them to be insulting and untrue. The School is not in the best shape, however it is anything but gross(except for a few broken ceiling tiles). The students at west are not all from non college families as stated. There are plenty of AP and college prep courses, as well as qualified teachers to teach them. The rules are not to lax at all and It is rare to find students wandering the halls or doing inappropriate things after school. I like West, even if I hate school.
—Submitted by a student

West is not a good school. The school doesn't care about its students and the general area is gross.
—Submitted by Adriana, a former student

I have to say this school has not met up to our expectations. The 2 good things are the ROTC and Band groups. Our guidance counselor was very helpful, but like Mr. Baines, the current principal is not available and we could never make an appointment. The students have the run of the building. After school they hang out wherever and are found hugging, kissing, etc., very inappropriate.
—Submitted by a parent

All three of my children attended this school as well and I have to say I am not quite as pleased. My oldest now 28 was not at all guided when looking into her future I guess because she didn't ask to be...my middle child a bright over acheiver with personality galore was not worked to her potential due to the lack of AP courses offered and and my youngest at the time principal Baines was called he would not return phone calls.
—Submitted by a parent

It's a blue collar school in a blue collar part of town - on fundamentlas, standards are high and children are expected to perform - however, there needs to be more emphasis on college to help these kids do better than their parents -Enrollment in AP or college prep courses is low and the classes themselves are few in number - more guidance towards college enrollment is needed from the staff - most of these kids don't come from families with university backgrounds - this school is the only exposure to the possibility and potential of a college education - lower middle class expectations produce lower middle class citizens - these kids are smarter and deserve better than that - this school can and should do more to lift these kids out of this working class community.
—Submitted by a former student

All three of my children attended WEST, and all three of them got into Harvard Law School. All of the teachers focus on the students, and always help out. The safety is supurb, and there are also two to three vice cops at all times in the school. The teacher quality is extremely high, which makes WEST one of the best public high schools in New Hampshire for academics. The Parents are always involved when needed, and the extracurricular activities are endless.
—Submitted by Lisa Silversmith, a parent

I have attended this school and it is overall a pretty decent school. We have great math and science departments and the other departments don't fall to far behind. We usually send at least 2 kids to Harvard every year and they do well. We also have a lot of school spirit usually.
—Submitted by a student