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About Waters Edge Village School

Water's Edge Village School is chartered to the non-profit organization, the Corolla Education Foundation (CEF), which creates unique educational opportunities for school-aged children in the Corolla community by drawing upon our extraordinary resources and coastal environment. It founded WEVS to revitalize local education on the northern Outer Banks.

Corolla Schoolhouse
The Corolla Schoolhouse was built in the late 1800s for children of lighthouse keepers and surfmen.  A document from the National Archives in DC seems to indicate the lighthouse keepers of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse asked for permission to be granted the schoolhouse in 1895 and it was recommended. The school committee at Corola (sic) requested an enlargement of the one-room schoolhouse. Minutes from the Currituck County Board of Education in 1910 allocate money to the Corolla school to expand in 1911  to a two-room schoolhouse. In the 1940s many children attended - anecdote says anywhere from 40-80! - but by 1955 only 5 children remained (1st-8th). See the 1955 Portsmouth Star article about the Corolla School and read the transcription here. The school had no money appropriated for its 2 students for the 1958-1959 school year. From that point on until WEVS opened in 2012 the schoolhouse was used as a residence, an office, and a home to the Corolla Wild Horse Foundation. In its first year WEVS had 16 students. 

A Charter School
A charter school is a free public school that receives per-student public funding, is governed by a board of directors, and overseen by the State Board of Education.  In our case, creative instruction incorporates project-based, hands-on learning into the state and national curriculum standards. Any North Carolina elementary student is eligible to attend WEVS free of charge. 

View our Charter application, approved by the State of North Carolina, March 2012

View our Charter Agreement here.

We Provide...

  • Small student-to-teacher ratio

  • Hands-on, project-based learning

  • Quality education for every learner

  • Community-building

  • Multi-age learning

WEVS provides a child-centered environment grounded in strong partnerships, leadership principles and an academically challenging, integrated, hands-on curriculum. This empowers students with a sense of social and environmental responsibility while nurturing both body and mind.