Shoally Creek Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by initiating a team approach to providing students a quality education in a positive, safe and supportive learning environment. Our dedicated faculty and staff commits to engaging students in a rigorous curriculum, which provides opportunities to educate and develop the "whole child".
One of the highlights during just our second year as a school was working through the AdvancED Accreditation process. All of our stakeholders - parents, students, faculty and staff - had an opportunity to look at our strengths and our areas for growth. Our collaborative work helped us reflect and focus on making Shoally Creek Elementary School a stronger learning community. As part of the accreditation process, our school was one of the elementary schools in Spartanburg District Two chosen to receive an on-site school visit from an outside team of educators. Our visit allowed us to share our story, and it resulted in high praise for our newly established school and team. The SCES administration and School Improvement Council (SIC) are working together to utilize the AdvancED feedback in order to establish goals that will positively impact student readiness in all areas - academically, socially, emotionally, and physically.
Our team commits to our school's guiding principle of "Soaring for Success!" Student success is encouraged through academic assistance, a wide range of special services, engaging learning activities, and RtI (Response to Intervention). A focus on common formative assessments and data analysis is guiding specific instruction within our classrooms in order to improve the academic achievement of our students. Analysis of data plays a critical part in planning and differentiating instruction during our weekly collaboration meetings known as Teaching and Learning Teams (TLTs). Small group instruction is the catalyst for addressing individual student needs based on students' strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Within our school, teachers participate in TLTs where they work collaboratively with our knowledgeable math and literacy coaches to review assessments and data in order to identify and meet the needs of their students. Teachers also collaborate with one another in preparing rigorous and engaging lessons based on the SC College and Career Ready Standards. Initiatives such as Response to Intervention (RtI), Blue Jay Scholars afterschool program, and Literacy Leveled Intervention (LLI) instruction provide students with support so that they are successful and monitored for academic progress. Teachers also spend time with instructional coaches learning about the components of effective teaching strategies, such as Guided Math and Guided Reading instruction as well as practice scoring text-dependent analysis samples. Our dedicated teaching staff participates in continuous professional development at the school and district levels. The Spartanburg Writing Project provides the faculty with best practices in reading and writing instruction, as well as works closely with our third and fourth grade teachers and students. The Student Learning Objective (SLO) process assists teachers in targeting areas of growth at each grade level. From those areas of growth, teachers write goals and submit a plan to target the areas that required improvement.
Technology remains of increasingly important for our students. Spartanburg School District Two continues to implement 1:1 technology in our third and fourth grades. Shoally Creek Elementary welcomes the challenges of integrating technology into the academics, as well as meeting the rigorous demands of the SC College and Career Readiness Standards.
We encourage and welcome parent involvement as a way to strengthen home and school communication, and are very appreciative of their attendance at of our school events. Such events include our PTO Open House, Muffins for Moms, Donuts for Dads, Literacy Family Night, SIC and PTO memberships, Health and Wellness Family Night, Science Fair Night, Family Spirit Nights, and our Fine Arts events, just to name a few.
Realizing the importance of educating the whole child, our entire staff engages in The Compassionate Schools Initiative. Being able to understand each child’s story is another means of better serving and meeting the needs of our students and their families. Throughout the school year, SCES students participated in special activities and competitions to help them develop academically, socially, and emotionally. The Blue Jay Way is a set of character expectations promoted through our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative. Through our PBIS system, we encourage students to follow The Blue Jay Way by being safe, owning their behavior, achieving their goals, and respecting others. Staff members recognize students throughout the school day for making good choices and for following The Blue Jay Way by giving out tickets, which earned them incentives. Each week, students caught following The Blue Jay Way are “Tweeted” about on our student-led morning news program, WSCE News.
SCES students were recognized for their participation in community outreach projects, such as canned food drives and a Family Fun Run to benefit The Upstate Family Resource Center, Jump Rope for Heart, Pennies for Patients, and March of Dimes. Our fine arts teachers host programs throughout the year to celebrate accomplishments in the arts. Mrs. Chastain, our music teachers, hosts grade level performances displaying the musical talents of our students throughout the year. Mrs. McDaniel, our art teacher, hosts an annual Art Show.
Effective communication among all stakeholders is critical for a positive sense of community. Communication is constantly updated to keep all stakeholders informed through weekly messages, newsletters, teacher blogs, call-outs by administration, and the digital message board.
Shoally Creek Elementary is committed to cultivating educational excellence and we are proud of the strides we have made during our first two years. Our dedicated team of faculty and staff will continue to grow each year in order to meet the needs of all of our students as we prepare them to be college and career ready.
Laura Meyer, Principal
Allison Hansen, SIC Chairperson