Clayton High School

The Clayton Public School District provides a safe, caring, positive, and challenging learning experience for the children of Clayton. We are a PreK through twelfth grade district with three schools. The Herma Simmons Elementary School provides instruction for 730 PreK through fifth grade students. Clayton Middle School educates 307 sixth through eighth grade students. Clayton High School serves 409 ninth through twelfth grade students. Our District has a caring and dedicated staff that is committed to preparing our students for the opportunities of today and the future. We are a district with a long-standing tradition and sense of pride that provides a variety of opportunities for our students in academics, co-curricular activities, athletics, fine and performing arts, and school-based student services. Our district provides counseling and assistance to students and families through our counseling center located in the Herma Simmons Elementary School. In addition, Clayton Place, a school-based youth services program housed in our high school and middle school, provides counseling, tutoring, and recreation activities for students at the secondary level. The support of our community is vital to our success, and we have a very active and dedicated Home and School Association. In 2015, Clayton High School had a graduation rate of 98 percent with approximately 75 percent of our graduates going on to college and an additional 7 percent entering a trade school. Our alumni compete successfully for admission to the top colleges in the country and earn numerous scholarships and awards. They report back to us that they feel their Clayton education prepared them well to pursue their career goals. Even so, we continue to add more AP courses and career preparation course selections to our high school offerings to assist our students. We also offer dual college credit courses through partnerships with Gloucester and Camden County Colleges. Our Army JROTC program continues to grow with over 11 percent of our high school students enrolled in the program. We offer an increased community connection through our website, where parents can obtain important information about our schools and the district, email staff with questions, and review their child's grades, attendance, and assignments. The Clayton School District has invested time, money, and resources to train teachers in best educational practices and provide student services. Students and teachers have access to the most recent technological tools to assist in teaching and learning. All three schools have interactive display panels and document cameras in classrooms. Our students have use of iPads and PC's at their disposal. Our 1 to 1 iPad initiative provides our current eighth through twelfth grade students with iPads to use both inside and outside of school. We are proud to say that our significant progress has attracted local and national attention. In 2010 and again in 2012, U.S. News and World Report awarded Clayton High School a bronze medal for closing the educational gap for minority students. In November of 2011, we received national recognition when U.S. News and World Report reported that our students had access to the most technology tools within the nation. In addition, the Newark Star Ledger/N.J. Magazine recognized the significant strides Clayton High School has made in the area of curriculum and achievement when they reported that our students have the best standardized test results within the state of New Jersey as compared to other schools within our district factor economic group. Most recently, in 2014, The Daily Beast (a division of News Week) recognized Clayton High School as one of the top High Schools in the Country. As a district, we can take tremendous pride in these accomplishments. As we look to the future, it is our vision to continue on this successful path as we provide our students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to become responsible citizens, achieve their goals, and build successful futures. At Clayton, we prepare our students for the opportunities of today and the future.