The school serves students in downtown areas of Beaufort and Port Royal in addition to students living on Lady's Island and St. Helena Island.

In 2011, the "Everyday Math" and "Everyday English" programs were set in place for incoming freshmen students who scored in the lower third of their middle school competency exams.

[citation needed] The “small schools” concept was dissolved before the 2019-2020 school year, and replaced primarily by the magnet programs of AP Capstone, PTLW classes, and MedTech 7.

The school fields teams for boys in baseball, football, wrestling, basketball, swimming, cross country, track & field, tennis, and golf; and for girls in cheerleading, volleyball, basketball, swimming, cross country, track & field, tennis, softball and golf.

Beaufort's rival is cross-town Battery Creek High School, but due to the relegation of Battery Creek to Class AAA (as a result of declining enrollment and the opening of Whale Branch High School), the schools do not play each other at the same frequency as before.