Shirley C. Heim Middle School

Shirley Heim MS has been a great school for my kids and my family. My 3rd child (of 4) will be starting 6th grade this fall. My daughter received straight A's for all 3 years at Heim (All in advanced classes) and my 2nd child has excelled through 6th and 7th grade. We have had great success with the leadership, teachers and staff and easily rate it as one of the best schools in Stafford County.

The staff is amazing! The teachers are phenomenal! The arts, music, and sports are well organized and great for the kids!

I became a new student at Shirley C. Heim a few months ago, and I honestly don't like the school. The teachers here aren't hard on their students at all. I took all advanced classes at my old school, but when I moved here the only advanced classes I could take were English and Math. They also don't have many elective options at this school, and if you take a language; you have to go to your high school every other day.The teachers barely give out any homework and the students there are very disrespectful and aren't serious about their work. People are always talking when they're not supposed to, which prevents the students who actually want to learn from learning. I'm a straight A student, and I usually get work that's challenging. At this school, everything is fairly easy, yet students still complain and don't do their work. I was surprised when I got 100 % on a math test and everyone got like a 70% and below. They were all saying I was probably the first person to get such a high score in their class this school year, which is very sad. I haven't been at this school for very long, but so far I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Their lunch is good though.

My complaint is that some of the teachers are overloading students with mindless activities and not fairly grading them for their fine work. The use of harshness, diatribes, and pure meanness displayed by a very few teachers toward very reliable students is appalling. Moreover, there needs to be a greater emphasis on camaraderie rather than simply making high scores on the SAT so that the school can look good. Too much pressure for young people in my opinion cause students to lack of efforts. Lastly, talented students are overlooked while participating in tryouts for sports which again causes poor morale at Shirley Heim!