Hunters Woods Elementary, 2401 Colts Neck Road, Reston: pre-K to 6, 731 students in fall 2025, rated Distinguished. Office: 703-262-7400.

Last checked Oct. 20, 2026. Sources: Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences, the FCPS school profile, the Virginia Department of Education’s School Quality Profile and the federal NCES school directory.

Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences is a magnet school on Colts Neck Road, near Hunters Woods Village Center, in the South Lakes High pyramid. Of the roughly 24,200 addresses inside Reston’s Census boundary in Fairfax County’s address file, about 8% fall in its zone on the county’s 2026-27 attendance maps. The school opened Sept. 2, 1969, with 19 teachers and 612 students and only 15 of its 33 planned classrooms finished, according to its history page. The magnet program for the arts and sciences began in the 1994-95 school year. The mustang mascot comes from the village’s original equestrian theme.

Who to call

  • Main office: 703-262-7400, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  • Attendance: 703-262-7474
  • Registering a new student: FCPS Student Registration, 703-204-6740
  • Buses: FCPS Transportation Services, 703-446-2000
Address 2401 Colts Neck Road, Reston, VA 20191
Grades Pre-K, kindergarten to 6
School day 8:55 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Website hunterswoodses.fcps.edu
Division Fairfax County Public Schools, Region 1, South Lakes High pyramid

Principal

Principal Emily Cope, according to the school’s website. The history page says she has led the school since 2012, after serving there as an assistant principal.

Enrollment and teachers

  • State count: 731 students in fall 2025, against 727 in 2024 and 689 in 2023, in the School Quality Profile.
  • Federal count: 688 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 46 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 15 students per teacher.

State report card

Virginia rates each school two ways on its School Quality Profile. Accreditation shows whether the school meets the state’s Standards of Accreditation. 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.

  • Accreditation, 2025-26: Fully Accredited
  • Framework score: 98.29, rated Distinguished, in the FCPS division summary

Standards of Learning pass rates (share of tested students who passed):

Subject 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26
English reading 88% 85% 87%
Math 85% 87% 88%
Science 81% 81% 85%

The full profile breaks the results down by student group and grade and also reports attendance, spending and teacher data.

Attendance zone

Enter an address in the FCPS boundary locator to see its assigned schools. On the county’s 2026-27 attendance area maps, the whole Hunters Woods zone goes to Langston Hughes Middle and then South Lakes High. Hughes’ other feeder schools are Sunrise Valley, Lake Anne, Dogwood, Terraset and Forest Edge elementary schools and part of Crossfield Elementary. As a magnet school, Hunters Woods also enrolls students from outside its zone: when the program began, more than 400 families applied for 110 places for children living outside the boundary, according to the history page. The school’s magnet page links to FCPS’s magnet program information.

FCPS’s comprehensive boundary review, approved by the School Board in January 2026, set the zones that took effect this 2026-27 school year, according to the FCPS boundary review page. The locator shows each address’s current assignment.

Calendar and school hours

From the FCPS 2026-27 school year calendar:

  • Friday, Oct. 30: end of the first quarter, two-hour early release
  • Monday, Nov. 2, and Tuesday, Nov. 3: student holidays (Nov. 3 is Election Day)
  • Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 3: winter break
  • March 22-26: spring break
  • Wednesday, June 16, 2027: last day of school, a two-hour early release for elementary students

School runs 8:55 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., according to the school’s bell schedule and office hours page. On a two-hour delay, school runs 10:55 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.

Programs

The school’s magnet page says every student has access to the enriched arts and sciences curriculum, with arts integration, STEAM and project-based learning. Grade-level signature events include Wonderfest, Tableau Night, the Living History Museum, the Global Awareness Technology Project and the Student Theater Arts Reflection Spectacular, an original student production performed with George Mason University. The FCPS school profile also names a Level IV Advanced Academic Program and an artist in residence for sixth graders.

More on Reston schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences serve?

Pre-K and kindergarten through sixth grade, according to the federal NCES directory. The state counted 731 students in fall 2025.

How is Hunters Woods Elementary rated by the state?

It is Fully Accredited for 2025-26. In Virginia’s School Performance and Support Framework it scored 98.29 and is rated Distinguished.

Which middle and high school does Hunters Woods Elementary feed into?

Langston Hughes Middle and South Lakes High. The whole Hunters Woods zone goes to both on Fairfax County’s 2026-27 attendance maps.

What time does Hunters Woods Elementary start?

School runs 8:55 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., according to the school’s bell schedule.