Which School Will My Child Attend In Worcester?

If you’re looking to buy a home in Worcester and you have school-aged or soon-to-be-school-aged children, one of the top priorities on your list is probably checking out the school your child will be attending. 

One advantage of living in Worcester is that your family is not limited to only one or two choices of elementary schools- I just counted the elementary schools listed on the WPS website, www.worcesterschools.org .   Worcester has a whopping 33 public elementary schools!  In addition, WPS lists 4 middle schools and 7 high schools, including a new state-of-the-art Technical High School. 

When you’re searching for homes, how do you know exactly which neighborhood school corresponds with a particular property? 

It isn’t necessarily the one closest to the property on the map.  One way to know for sure is to give a quick call to the WPS Parent Information Center at 508-799-3194 during their normal business hours and give the exact address.  Be sure that you don’t just give the street name as some streets in Worcester are very long and may encompass more than one school.   As a Realtor, I call quite often on behalf of my clients to confirm neighborhood schools for prospective properties and every time, the people there have been very friendly and helpful.

Worcester Public Schools Parent Information Center

768 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610
508-799-3194
Hours: 7:30 am- 4:00 pm

Click here: Worcester Public Schools – Parent Information Center Overview

In Worcester, your child is guaranteed a spot in your neighborhood school, so that school would be a great place to start researching.  But what if you fall in love with a property, but you don’t want to send your child to the neighborhood school?  While you are only guaranteed a spot in your neighborhood school, there are other possibilities in Worcester.  At the elementary level, there are several “Magnet Schools,” each of which has its own educational specialty like the Arts, Communications, and Science and Technology among a few.  Once you thoroughly research the schools and narrow down a few that you are interested in, you can go to the Parent Information Center to register your child (provided that you are a Worcester resident).  You may have to list more than one choice for alternative placements to your neighborhood school, as your child’s placement will be based on spaces available in the school(s) you are interested in.  While there is no guarantee that you will get your top choice, chances are, you will be able to find an alternative that you and your child will be happy with, as Worcester has so many elementary schools to choose from (as of Fall 2010, Worcester has 10 schools that reached “Level 1” MCAS status).  However, the only way to absolutely be sure your child gets a spot in your top choice is to buy a home (or rent one) in that school’s district.

For a list of Worcester Streets and corresponding neighborhood schools, visit  Worcester School Districts by Street Look Up