Education – Virginia's Mountain Playground™

Educating Our Future Leaders

Giles County Public Schools strives to provide an educational program that offers a broad range of opportunities for the intellectual growth and personal fulfillment of our students. We are committed to the improvement of both the scope and quality of our instructional programs.

ACCE | Access to Community College Education

Giles County is the first locality in the New River Valley to participate in the “Access to Community College Education” initiative. ACCE is a public/private partnership that makes college available tuition-free to graduates from Giles County by covering the cost of tuition for two years at New River Community College. ACCE supports as many students as possible based on student need and funds available for the program. With your support, students will graduate from NRCC prepared to join the workforce or transfer to a four-year university without college debt.

GILES EDUCATION SYSTEM

Our school system serves approximately 2430 students from Kindergarten through grade 12 in the following facilities:

3 Elementary/Middle Schools

2 Secondary Schools

1 Technology Center
1 Alternative Education Program

Over the past 15 years, we have completed renovations to our school facilities thanks to the collaboration between our local Board of Supervisors and School Board. In addition GCPS is also a member of the Southwest Virginia Governor’s School for Math, Science, and Technology. With approximately 370 faculty/staff members, GCPS is able to serve our students with much individual attention.

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Elementary

Elementary/middle education in GCPS includes both primary and middle education, encompassing kindergarten through seventh grade, and offers a curriculum that is consistent with the Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL’s) and Standards of Accreditation. Itinerant teachers are provided for music education, physical education, and primary art. In addition, an Instructional Technology teacher is provided and works with faculty members to incorporate technology into the instruction occurring within the classroom. All elementary/middle schools provide the building foundations required for secondary schools by offering the necessary groundwork for the remaining five years of education associated with public schools.

Secondary

science Secondary education in GCPS encompasses grades eight through twelve. A strong vocational program is available at both of our high schools, as well as specialized services at the Giles County Technology Center. We provide distance learning classes (Spanish) between Giles High School (GHS) and our three elementary/middle schools. We also offer New River Community College (NRCC) courses, such as Principles of Sociology, Principles of Psychology, Art Appreciation, and Religions of the World as distance learning classes between Giles and Narrows High Schools. Those classes referenced above allow two-way interaction between the students at Giles or Narrows High School (NHS) and NRCC. In addition, to increase opportunities for our students, our school system has a Career Counselor at the Giles Technology Center to assist students in their career choices.

Gifted Education

Students in Grades K-12 are offered differentiated instruction based on needs and interests as part of the Gifted Education Program. Categories of identification for students in Grades 4-12 are General Intellectual Aptitude, Specific Academic Aptitude (in math and language), and Visual Arts. A Young Scholars program and Visual Arts Talent Pool are available for students in grades K-3, with formal identification for the Gifted Education Program completed in grade 4. In addition, a two week summer exploration program is designed for students, grades K-6. Furthermore, specialized computer instruction is available for students in the elementary schools.

Special Education

Students with disabilities comprise approximately 13% of the total school population. Special education programs are individually designed to serve the needs of students with physical, learning, or emotional disabilities. Students with moderate and severe disabilities are involved in community-based instruction and vocational training. Parents and staff support the heterogeneous groupings of children and the inclusion of students with disabilities into the mainstream of programs and activities within our schools.