Valley Stream South High School (VSSHS) is a combined public junior and senior high school located in South Valley Stream, New York, in southwest Nassau County on Long Island. The school was established in 1955. The high school is one of three high schools in the Valley Stream Central High School District as well as one of two combined junior-senior high schools which educate grades seventh through twelfth. Students who attend Valley Stream South High School are mainly graduates of the local South Valley Stream elementary schools, including William L. Buck Elementary School, Brooklyn Avenue Elementary School, Forest Road Elementary School, and Robert W. Carbonaro Elementary School which is approximately 600 feet to the junior-senior high school complex. Valley Stream South High School is known to the local population simply as "South". Valley Stream North High School was built at the same time. Both schools were originally similar in architecture and were arch rivals in to sporting events. During the 2007–2008 school year, South's athletics division was changed to Division 3 due to the size of the student body. The school has three floors and was originally designed in the shape of a cube with a landscaped courtyard in the center. As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,275 students and 91.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.9:1. There were 282 students (22.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 64 (5.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. The school's official colors are red and white. The school's mascot is the falcon. School ethnicity Valley Stream South is one of the most diverse public high schools in New York according to Niche, ranking 9th most diverse in the state, 5th most diverse outside of New York City, and 98th most diverse in the United States as of 2021. Hispanic = 29.8% of students African American/Non-Hispanic = 27.2% of students Asian/Pacific Islander = 23.8% of students White/Non-Hispanic = 18.2% of students Newsweek rankings South was ranked as one of the top high schools in the country according by Newsweek magazine. Since Newsweek started ranking high schools in 1999, South has ranked as one of the top 300 public high schools in America, until 2012, as well as one of the top 25 public high schools on Long Island. In April 2014, Valley Stream South was ranked as the 16th best