Independence High School, 23115 Learning Circle: grades 9-12, 2,236 students in fall 2025, rated Distinguished by the state. Office: 571-367-4200.
Last checked Oct. 19, 2026. Sources: Independence High School, Loudoun County Public Schools, the Virginia Department of Education’s School Quality Profile, the federal NCES school directory, LCPS’s 2026-27 elementary, middle and high school zone layers and the VHSL alignment.
Independence High School, on Learning Circle beside Brambleton Middle School, is the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) high school for the Brambleton Middle zone, grades 9 to 12. It opened in 2019, according to its athletics site, and it is the largest of the five LCPS high schools with an Ashburn address, by the state’s fall 2025 count.
Who to call
- Front office: 571-367-4200, 8:30 a.m. to 4:18 p.m.
- Attendance: Attendance requests go through ParentVUE
- Enrolling a new student: LCPS Registration Services, 571-252-2490, and online pre-registration
- Which school serves an address: LCPS Planning and GIS Services, 571-252-1050, or the LABEL address lookup
- Buses: LCPS Transportation, 571-252-1700, 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (transportation page)
- LCPS central office: 21000 Education Court, Ashburn, 571-252-1000
| Address | 23115 Learning Circle, Ashburn, VA 20148 |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Main phone | 571-367-4200 |
| School day | 9:30 a.m. to 4:18 p.m. on the regular schedule |
| Website | lcps.org/o/ihs |
| School division | Loudoun County Public Schools |
Principal
Principal John Gabriel, according to the school’s website.
Enrollment and teachers
- State count: 2,236 students in fall 2025, compared with 2,172 in 2024 and 2,080 in 2023, in the School Quality Profile.
- Federal count: 2,073 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 147 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 14 students per teacher.
State report card
Virginia rates each school two ways on its School Quality Profile. Accreditation shows whether the state has approved the evidence the Standards of Accreditation require. The School Performance and Support Framework gives each school a score and one of four performance levels: Distinguished, Meets Expectations, Approaching Expectations or Needs Intensive Support, as listed in the LCPS division summary.
- Accreditation, 2025-26: Fully Accredited
- Framework score: 100.76, rated Distinguished, in the division summary
- On-time graduation: 99%. Of 546 students in the 2025-26 cohort, 540 graduated on time: 456 with an advanced studies diploma, 80 with a standard diploma and four with other diplomas. The completion rate was 99%, and two students dropped out.
Standards of Learning pass rates (end-of-course tests, share of tested students who passed), from the School Quality Profile:
| Subject | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English reading | 96% | 97% | 97% |
| Math | 89% | 94% | 93% |
| Science | 82% | 92% | 90% |
The full profile also reports attendance, teacher data and spending.
Attendance zone
The Independence High zone and the Brambleton Middle zone are the same for 2026-27: every address zoned for Brambleton Middle goes on to Independence High. The elementary zones inside it, by share of its 8,482 county address points: Legacy Elementary (29%), Creighton’s Corner Elementary (20%), Madison’s Trust Elementary (20%), Sycolin Creek Elementary (18%) and Elaine E. Thompson Elementary (13%). Of those address points, 7,223 (85%) carry an Ashburn ZIP code, 20147 or 20148. Students zoned for Brambleton Middle attend Watson Mountain Middle School, 41480 Steeplechase Loop Drive, Leesburg, for grades 6 and 7 and Brambleton Middle for grade 8 in 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28, under the non-traditional plan the School Board approved Feb. 14, 2023, according to LCPS. Brambleton returns to grades 6 to 8 in fall 2028.
Through 2027-28, ninth graders spend alternate A and B days at Independence and at the Independence Annex, IND-X, inside Brambleton Middle on the shared campus. Thornton Summit High School, the division’s HS-14, opens in fall 2028 next to Watson Mountain Middle on Steeplechase Loop Drive, LCPS said when the School Board named the school June 23, 2026. LCPS says secondary attendance zones in Dulles North and Dulles South will be modified for that opening (Watson Mountain zone page).
Check one address in the LCPS LABEL lookup or on the division’s 2026-27 zone maps, or call Planning and GIS Services at 571-252-1050. Our neighborhoods guide lists the zoned schools for each Ashburn community.
How we checked: we matched Loudoun County’s 140,707 address points against LCPS’s 2026-27 elementary, middle and high school zone layers. LCPS does not publish a feeder list, so the feeder lines and shares are our count; the zone lines are the division’s own.
Calendar and bell times
From the 2026-27 LCPS calendar the School Board adopted:
- Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29-30: no school for students
- Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 2-3: no school (Election Day is Nov. 3)
- Monday, Nov. 9: holiday
- Wednesday to Friday, Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; classes resume Monday, Jan. 4
- March 22-26: spring break
- Friday, June 11, 2027: last day of school
The school day runs 9:30 a.m. to 4:18 p.m. on the regular schedule, according to the school’s website (bell schedules).
Sports and activities
Independence High plays in Class 6, Region B, Cedar Run District for 2026-27, according to the VHSL alignment. The district’s other schools are Battlefield, Gainesville, Osbourn, Osbourn Park, Patriot and Unity Reed. Its teams are the Tigers.
The team list on ArbiterLive, linked from the Independence athletics site shows these teams: baseball, boys and girls basketball, competitive cheer, cross country, field hockey, girls flag football, football, golf, gymnastics, boys and girls lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, boys and girls volleyball and wrestling.
Follow the high school teams on our Friday night football page and the high school scoreboard.
More on Ashburn schools
- The school’s own page: lcps.org/o/ihs
- The state’s School Quality Profile for Independence High
- Every public school in Ashburn, with zones and state ratings
- Our Ashburn schools guide for the calendar, registration and the School Board
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Independence High School serve?
Grades 9 through 12. The state counted 2,236 students in fall 2025.
How is Independence High School rated by the state?
It is fully accredited for 2025-26. In Virginia’s School Performance and Support Framework it scored 100.76 and is rated Distinguished.
Which middle school feeds Independence High School?
Brambleton Middle. Every address in its zone goes on to Independence High.
What time does Independence High School start?
Classes start at 9:30 a.m.; the school day runs 9:30 a.m. to 4:18 p.m. on the regular schedule, according to the school’s website.
Who is the principal of Independence High School?
John Gabriel, according to the school’s website.
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