Mrs. Ellis

Message from the Principal


Shapleigh School is a public school located in Kittery, Maine and comprised of about four hundred students in grades four through eight and a professional and caring staff committed to providing a rigorous and engaging learning experience for each student. Our goal is to help students on their journey to becoming global citizens, lifelong learners, and healthy, caring, and intellectually reflective individuals. Our challenge is to ensure that every student is promoted to the high school with the essential knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to successfully navigate the next leg of their educational journey. In addition to their academic course work, students are encouraged to participate in after school experiences including sports, clubs, and activities offered in response to student interest and supervisor availability.

During these middle level years from ages nine to fifteen, our children are undergoing dramatic changes in physical, emotional, social, and intellectual growth. Our challenge is to help them integrate these changes with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to succeed in school and later in life. We aspire to challenge them, help them to deepen their learning, and push them to develop their talents and potential.  We want to ensure that students meet the increased demands of local, state and federal standards.  Because studies show a strong correlation between students who are involved in the school community and success in the classroom, we encourage all students to commit to challenging courses of study and to be an active participant in the Shapleigh community.               

Our mission at Shapleigh School is to help students grow in mind, body, and spirit in a safe and caring environment. Support from parents/guardians and the community is critical as students progress through school and never more so than at the middle level. Working together to nurture emotional and social growth, to hold and act upon high expectations, and to cultivate a comfortable and safe environment, we promote a sense of community that maximizes success. Together, we can provide comprehensive and meaningful experiences so that each student will realize his or her greatest potential.