If you are searching homes in Herndon with schools in mind, Herndon High School is almost certainly on your list of questions. It sits right in the heart of Herndon town, on Bennett Street, a short walk from the Herndon Community Center, the W&OD Trail, and the older residential neighborhoods that make up the core of the town. For families who want a school rooted in community, the location alone tells you something about the character of the place.
Herndon High is the zoned public high school for much of the Town of Herndon and parts of unincorporated Fairfax County that fall within the Herndon pyramid. Most people just call it Herndon High or HHS. It is a comprehensive neighborhood school with a diverse student body, a real AP program, and a principal who just won a regional award. It also has ratings from third-party sites that can look alarming at first glance, so it is worth putting all of that in context before you make any decisions based on a number alone.
Here is what you should actually know.
Herndon High School at a Glance
A few basics first:
- Formal name: Herndon High School
- Common name: Herndon High or HHS; mascot is the Hornets
- District: Fairfax County Public Schools
- Grades: 9–12
- Address: 700 Bennett St, Herndon, VA 20170
- Principal: Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Noto
- Main phone: 703-810-2200
- Website: herndonhs.fcps.edu
- Pyramid: Herndon High Pyramid
- Enrollment: approximately 2,267 students (2024–25)
- Student-teacher ratio: 12:1
- Accreditation: Fully Accredited, 2025–26 (Virginia Department of Education)
To confirm your specific address is in the Herndon pyramid, use the FCPS School Locator. Boundaries in this part of Fairfax County are not always obvious from a street address alone, and some neighborhoods along the edges feed to different schools.
About Dr. Liz Noto
Leadership matters in any school, and Herndon High has a strong one. Dr. Noto has been principal at HHS since 2017, which is a long tenure for a large public high school. In 2024–25, she was named Region 1 Outstanding Principal by FCPS, recognized for earning the respect of students and staff, inspiring excellence and creativity, and building a clear vision for the school's future.
That kind of recognition does not come from metrics alone. It reflects how she runs the building, how staff feel working there, and how students experience the day-to-day. For families who care about school culture, it is a meaningful data point.
The Herndon Pyramid
Herndon High anchors a pyramid that includes several elementary and middle schools serving the town and surrounding areas. The feeder middle school for most Herndon-area students is Herndon Middle School, also located in town. Elementary feeders within the Herndon pyramid include Aldrin, Armstrong, Clearview, Dranesville, Herndon Elementary, and Hutchison, among others depending on where exactly you live.
Because Herndon sits at the intersection of several FCPS pyramid boundaries, some neighborhoods nearby actually feed to a different pyramid entirely: Oakton, South Lakes, or even Westfield. Using the FCPS locator before making an offer is genuinely important if the pyramid matters to your search.
AP and Academic Programs
Herndon High participates in the College Board AP program and was named to the 2025 AP School Honor Roll, one of 17 FCPS high schools to earn that recognition. The Honor Roll designation means the school is expanding access to AP courses while also producing results. It rewards both participation and performance, not just one or the other.
Roughly 27% of students are enrolled in at least one AP course, according to the most recent Virginia School Quality Profile data. The school offers a broad selection of AP subjects across English, history, science, math, and the arts. There is no IB program at Herndon High. If IB is a priority, South Lakes High School in Reston is the nearby option within FCPS that offers the full International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
Beyond AP, Herndon High offers Advanced Academics Program (AAP) services at the high school level for students who received AAP services in middle school. Students can also access some courses through FCPS's Virtual Learning program.
How to Think About the Ratings
Third-party ratings for Herndon High vary quite a bit depending on the source, and they are worth understanding rather than just reacting to.
Niche gives Herndon High an overall grade of B and ranks it #153 among public high schools in Virginia. That is a solid middle-of-the-pack position for a large, diverse comprehensive school in one of the most competitive school districts in the country. Niche factors in academics, teachers, culture, and student life, so a B reflects a school that is genuinely doing reasonable things across multiple dimensions.
GreatSchools rates Herndon High a 3 out of 10, which looks alarming but requires context. GreatSchools ratings are heavily weighted toward standardized test scores relative to state averages, and they do not fully account for the population a school serves. Herndon High has a large proportion of English language learners and students from lower-income households, both of which correlate with lower test scores nationally. Neither factor tells you much about whether a school is serving its students well relative to where those students started. The GreatSchools number tells you about raw outcomes. It does not tell you about growth, effort, or school quality in any deeper sense.
On the standardized testing front, the Virginia School Quality Profile shows math pass rates at 77% and reading at 78% for the 2024–25 school year, both above statewide averages, which is notable. The average SAT score is approximately 1,250 and average ACT is 28.
For college outcomes, VDOE data shows that 73% of the graduating class enrolled in a postsecondary program within 16 months of graduation. That figure includes four-year colleges, community colleges, and vocational programs.
One more context point worth noting: Herndon High is fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education for 2025–26. Full accreditation means the school meets the state's academic standards across all required measures.
A Very Diverse School
Herndon High has one of the most diverse student bodies in FCPS. The school is approximately 53% Hispanic, 27% White, 9% Asian, and 7% Black, with additional students identifying as multiracial or other backgrounds. A significant portion of students come from households where English is not the primary language, and the school offers ESOL services accordingly.
For families who value genuine diversity, this is a real thing at HHS. The International Heritage Club is one of the more visible expressions of it, organizing events like International Night that bring together food, music, and cultural traditions from the many communities represented in the school. If your family is coming from a more homogeneous community and wants your kids exposed to something broader, Herndon High delivers that in a way most suburban schools do not.
Purple Star School
Herndon High holds the Purple Star School designation for 2025–26, a Virginia recognition given to schools that demonstrate a commitment to supporting military-connected students and families. The Herndon Ambassadors program is a key part of this: a student-led group that helps new students get oriented when they enroll mid-year, something military families in particular often need.
Even if your family has no military connection, this designation reflects something broader about the school's culture. It is a place that takes seriously the experience of students who arrive from somewhere else and need a soft landing. That matters in a school serving a highly mobile and diverse population.
Discovery Summit and School Culture
One of the signature programs at Herndon High is Discovery Summit, a schoolwide culture and leadership initiative. Discovery Summit is not an academic program in the traditional sense. It is more of an experiential learning day that pulls students out of regular class schedules for hands-on, team-building, and creative activities. It functions as a community-building event that reinforces the school's emphasis on connection and belonging.
The Herndon Ambassadors program, mentioned above, is also part of this broader culture focus. The school makes a deliberate effort to welcome new students, and that shows up in several ways beyond just the Purple Star designation.
Music, Arts, and Extracurriculars
Herndon High has a notable music program. Guitar students have participated in International Guitar Night at Wolf Trap, including a VIP meet-and-greet with featured guitarists. Tri-M, the music honor society for students in band, choir, guitar, or orchestra, actively supports school concerts and reaches out to elementary and middle school programs in the pyramid.
Beyond music, the school runs a strong clubs program that includes FIRST Robotics, Best Buddies, Herndon Ambassadors, and the International Heritage Club, among many others. FIRST Robotics is worth noting for students interested in engineering: teams build competition robots and participate in regional events.
On the athletics side, Herndon High fields teams across a full range of varsity sports under the Hornets banner. The school has a dedicated sports booster organization and an active parent community around athletics.
What Families Close to the Herndon-Reston Line Should Know
One thing that catches some buyers off guard: proximity to Reston does not necessarily mean you are in the South Lakes pyramid. Parts of western Reston and areas that feel like Herndon geographically can actually feed to Herndon High rather than South Lakes, and vice versa. The boundaries in this part of Fairfax County are not drawn in a way that always matches how neighborhoods market themselves.
If you are buying specifically for the South Lakes IB program or specifically for Herndon High, verify the assignment with the FCPS boundary locator before you go under contract. It is a five-minute check that can save a lot of confusion.
Access and Location
Herndon High's Bennett Street address puts it right in the middle of town, which means walkability for students who live nearby and good access to the community infrastructure that surrounds it. The Herndon Community Center is close. The W&OD Trail runs through the area. Downtown Herndon, with its restaurants, coffee shops, and farmers market, is a short drive or bike ride.
For commuting families, the Silver Line Innovation Center station is accessible from much of the Herndon pyramid, and the Dulles Corridor is the dominant commute path for most residents. Traffic on Route 7 and the Toll Road is the daily reality for households in this area, and school start times at the high school level are relevant to that picture.
Contact Information
- Address: 700 Bennett St, Herndon, VA 20170
- Phone: 703-810-2200
- Website: herndonhs.fcps.edu
- Principal: Dr. Elizabeth Noto
- FCPS School Locator: fcps.edu boundary locator
The Bottom Line
Herndon High School is a large, diverse, neighborhood public school with real academic offerings, a strong principal, and a school culture that takes community seriously. It is not a magnet school and it is not competing for the same reputation as the FCPS schools with IB programs or specialized academies. What it is: an honest, fully accredited comprehensive high school that serves a wide range of students and does a solid job of it.
For families moving to Herndon, the school is a reasonable fit for students who want AP access, a broad extracurricular life, and a genuinely diverse experience. Families with students who need IB or who have a very specific academic profile should look carefully at all options in the pyramid and adjacent pyramids before deciding where to buy.
If you want help thinking through how Herndon High fits into a specific neighborhood search, Kathy and I are happy to walk through it with you. We cover this area regularly and know where the boundaries fall, what the neighborhoods feel like, and which streets make the most sense depending on what you are looking for.
