First Colonial High, 1272 Mill Dam Road: grades 9 to 12, 1,714 students in fall 2025, fully accredited, framework score 91.13. Office: 757-648-5300.

Last checked Oct. 19, 2026. Sources: First Colonial High, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, the Virginia Department of Education’s School Quality Profile, the federal NCES school directory and the VHSL alignment.

First Colonial High School serves ninth through 12th grade at 1272 Mill Dam Road for Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS). It had 1,714 students in fall 2025, the state’s count shows.

Who to call
Address 1272 Mill Dam Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454
Phone 757-648-5300
Grades 9 to 12
Student hours 7:20 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Office hours 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Website firstcolonialhs.vbschools.com
Division Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Principal

Principal Caitlin Riley, according to the school’s website. The administration page also lists D. Brad Barbour, Richard Plank and Deborah Shelton as assistant principals.

Enrollment and teachers

  • State count: 1,714 students in fall 2025, down from 1,727 in fall 2024 and 1,735 in fall 2023, according to the School Quality Profile. Fall 2025 broke down as 463 in ninth grade, 426 in 10th grade, 433 in 11th grade and 392 in 12th grade.
  • Federal count: 1,732 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 101 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 17 students per teacher.

State report card

Virginia rates schools two ways. Accreditation checks that a school meets the state’s Standards of Accreditation. The School Performance and Support Framework “considers multiple measures of student success, including academic achievement, growth, readiness, and graduation,” the division’s accreditation and performance page says, and gives each school a score and a performance level.

  • Accreditation: Fully Accredited. All 81 VBCPS schools earned full accreditation for 2026-27, based on 2025-26 data, the division announced Oct. 7.
  • Framework score: 91.13, performance level Distinguished, in the state’s division summary.
  • On-time graduation: 95%. Of 416 students in the 2025-26 cohort, 397 graduated on time; 269 earned an advanced diploma and 124 a standard diploma, and 15 dropped out.

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

Subject 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26
English reading 91% 91% 92%
Writing 82% 84% 83%
Math 83% 80% 83%
Science 83% 83% 87%

In 2025-26, 564 students took an Advanced Placement test, 138 took dual enrollment classes and 18 attended a Governor’s School, the profile shows.

The full profile also reports attendance, student groups, teacher data and spending.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Look up any address in the division’s School Locator; the school’s own 2026-27 zone map (PDF) shows its boundary. Zones do not follow neighborhood or ZIP code lines, so check the address, not the area.

Feeder schools: on the division’s 2026-27 zone maps, the First Colonial High zone overlaps all or part of the zones of Lynnhaven Middle and Virginia Beach Middle. Middle school and high school zones do not match exactly, so classmates from one middle school can split between high schools.

Families who want a different school can file an out-of-zone request.

Calendar and bell times

From the division’s 2026-27 calendar (PDF):

  • Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 2-3: no school for students (staff days; Nov. 3 is Election Day)
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, schools closed
  • Wednesday to Friday, Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break
  • March 29 to April 2, 2027: spring break
  • Friday, June 11, 2027: last day for students

Students attend from 7:20 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the office is open 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to the division’s school hours page, which sets the same hours for all high schools.

Closings and delays are posted on the division’s weather page.

Sports and activities

First Colonial High plays in Class 5, Region A, Beach District, according to the VHSL alignment, which lists it as First Colonial. The Beach District’s other schools are Bayside, Kellam, Cox, Green Run, Kempsville, Landstown, Ocean Lakes, Princess Anne, Salem and Tallwood.

The school’s athletics page names Stephen Butler as student activities coordinator and covers physicals and eligibility; it does not post a team list.

The division’s academies page lists the Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial (coordinator Melissa Disher, 757-648-5300). Students from across the city apply through the division’s academy application process.

Follow the season on our Friday night football page and the high school scoreboard.

More on Virginia Beach schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does First Colonial High serve?

Ninth through 12th grade. It is part of Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

How is First Colonial High rated by the state?

It is fully accredited for 2026-27. On Virginia’s School Performance and Support Framework it scored 91.13 and is rated Distinguished, according to the state’s School Quality Profiles.

What time does First Colonial High start?

Students attend from 7:20 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the division’s school hours page.

What is First Colonial High’s graduation rate?

95%. Of 416 students in the 2025-26 cohort, 397 graduated on time, according to the state’s School Quality Profile.