Garland R. Quarles Elementary, 1310 S. Loudoun St.: pre-K to grade 4, 405 students in fall 2025, fully accredited, framework score 84.47. Office: 540-662-3575.
Last checked Oct. 20, 2026. Sources: Garland R. Quarles Elementary, Winchester Public Schools, the Virginia Department of Education’s School Quality Profile, the federal NCES school directory and the city’s school district map layer.
Garland R. Quarles Elementary School serves pre-K through fourth grade at 1310 S. Loudoun St. for Winchester Public Schools (WPS), one of the division’s four elementary schools. It had 405 students in fall 2025, the state’s count shows. Its mascot is the Chameleons. The school opened in 1955, added classrooms in 1958 and was rededicated after another addition on Oct. 12, 1997, according to its about page. It is named for Garland R. Quarles, Handley’s principal from 1928 and the division’s superintendent from 1930 until 1965.
Who to call
- Front office: 540-662-3575, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
- Registering a new student: the division’s registration page, or Central Office at 598 N. Kent St., 540-667-4253
- Preschool (VPI) applications: the Coordinator of Early Childhood Education, 540-667-4253, or the early childhood family liaison, 540-686-5436
- Which school is my address zoned for? the division’s WebQuery school and bus stop lookup
- Buses: the Transportation office; bus stops are in WebQuery
| Address | 1310 S. Loudoun St., Winchester, VA 22601 |
| Phone | 540-662-3575 |
| Grades | Pre-K to 4 |
| School day | 7:50 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. |
| Website | gqes.wps.k12.va.us |
| Division | Winchester Public Schools |
Principal
Principal Jennifer DiMarco, according to the school’s website. Her message says she started with Winchester Public Schools in 2005 as a prekindergarten teacher and later served as an assistant principal.
Enrollment and teachers
- State count: 405 students in fall 2025, compared with 410 in fall 2024 and 388 in fall 2023, according to the School Quality Profile. Fall 2025 broke down as 33 in pre-K, 68 in kindergarten, 83 in first grade, 65 in second grade, 82 in third grade and 74 in fourth grade.
- Federal count: 388 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 13 students per teacher.
State report card
Virginia rates schools two ways. Accreditation means a school “submitted all required evidence to the Department of Education as prescribed in the Standards of Accreditation,” in the words of the state profile. The School Performance and Support Framework gives each school a score and one of four performance levels: Distinguished, Meets Expectations, Approaching Expectations and Needs Intensive Support.
- Accreditation: Fully Accredited, the state’s designation for the 2025-26 school year.
- Framework score: 84.47, performance level Meets Expectations, in the state’s division summary.
Standards of Learning pass rates (share of tested students who passed, all tests in the subject; state tests start in third grade):
| Subject | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English reading | 55% | 61% | 60% |
| Math | 59% | 68% | 65% |
| History and social science | 57% | 59% | 65% |
The full profile also reports attendance, student groups, teacher data and spending.
Programs
STEM school: the about page describes Quarles as a STEM school (science, technology, engineering and math) with writing across the curriculum and daily physical activity, and names a partnership with Shenandoah University.
Renovation or replacement: the division is studying the renovation or replacement of Quarles with VMDO Architects, “building for the next 50-75 years,” and “the potential of bringing 5th grade back to elementary schools,” its project page says. Community workshops on the concept study were held at the school April 15 and June 10. The page does not report a School Board decision on a design or on fifth grade.
Attendance zone and feeder schools
Winchester has four elementary zones, and they do not follow neighborhood lines. Enter an address in WebQuery and choose the grade (K for preschool) to see the school and bus stop, or call the school. Families near the school can check the division’s walk zone maps.
By our count of the city’s address points on its School Districts map layer, the Garland R. Quarles Elementary zone takes in all of the Central planning area, most of the South Central area (71% of its address points) and the Southwest area (57%), and parts of the Southeast (26%), East Central (25%) and West Central (23%) areas. See our neighborhood guides for Central, South Central, Southwest, Southeast, East Central and West Central. The other elementary schools are Frederick Douglass Elementary, John Kerr Elementary and Virginia Avenue Charlotte DeHart Elementary.
Feeder schools: every WPS student goes on to Daniel Morgan Intermediate for fifth and sixth grade, Daniel Morgan Middle for seventh and eighth, and John Handley High, according to the division’s list of schools. Zones stop at the city line: homes with a Winchester mailing address in ZIP codes 22602 and 22603 are in Frederick County, which runs its own schools.
Calendar and bell times
From the division’s 2026-27 calendar:
- Tuesday, Nov. 3: teacher professional development day
- Nov. 25-27: fall break
- Friday, Dec. 18: end of the second quarter, holiday early release
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; Monday, Jan. 4, is a teacher professional development day
- Monday, Jan. 18: division holiday
- March 26 and March 29 to April 2: spring break
- Friday, May 28: last day of school, early release
The calendar sets elementary hours at 7:50 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The school’s own page lists parent drop-off from 7:20 a.m., the tardy bell at 7:50 a.m. and pickup at 2:30 p.m. Closings and delays are posted on the division’s closings page.
More on Winchester schools
- The school’s website and its state School Quality Profile
- Every public school in Winchester
- Our Winchester schools guide for registration documents, kindergarten age rules and School Board meetings
- Our neighborhoods guide
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Garland R. Quarles Elementary serve?
Pre-K through fourth grade. It had 405 students in fall 2025, the state’s count shows. Fifth graders move on to Daniel Morgan Intermediate.
How is Garland R. Quarles Elementary rated by the state?
It is fully accredited for 2025-26. On Virginia’s School Performance and Support Framework it scored 84.47 and is rated Meets Expectations, according to the state’s School Quality Profiles.
Which high school does Garland R. Quarles Elementary feed into?
John Handley High School, by way of Daniel Morgan Intermediate for fifth and sixth grade and Daniel Morgan Middle for seventh and eighth grade. Every Winchester Public Schools student attends those three schools.
What time does Garland R. Quarles Elementary start?
Elementary school runs from 7:50 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., according to the division’s 2026-27 calendar. The school lists drop-off from 7:20 a.m.
Have your say