Lexington Elementary School is helping our students develop excellent world-class skills with life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a fully authorized International Baccalaureate World School curriculum. With the school motto, “Global minds with caring hearts,” we provide a quality international education to all students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Our mission and vision is to educate our students to become knowledgeable, responsible citizens in a global society by providing a meaningful curriculum that integrates the state standards, our community and technology resources. Our school includes programs for students with learning disabilities. Our emphasis on international education includes Spanish instruction in grades one through five. Technology is an integral part of our resources with access for students in research, e-Portfolios (ClassDojo) and a variety of beneficial software programs. Students participate in actual field studies and many virtual field trips to connect with many other places in the world. We believe our school is one of the most exciting learning communities in Lexington County!
LES and the staff have been recognized for their achievements and accomplishments on local, state and national levels. As part of Lexington County School District One’s district accreditation, Lexington Elementary has been nationally accredited by AdvancED. We are a fully authorized Primary Years Programme by the International Baccalaureate Organization school. Our PTA is supportive of our instructional program and our school families. We form productive partnerships with parents and community by promoting programs that connect students and volunteers in learning environments. Since 2012, we have been one of the top school supporters of Relay For Life. Our school has been recognized and awarded grants by the Lexington One Educational Foundation for four years in a row, totaling over $20,000 for our efforts with IB, furniture for the Learning Commons, and support for our Response to Intervention with additional reading materials. We participate in a variety of service projects, which include raising funds and collecting items to donate to others in need. This year our students and staff collected items for Mission Lexington, homeless veterans and Flood Buckets, and raised funds to support the purchase of a Water Bottle Refilling Station as well as donated needed items to Wildlife Cares.
Our fifth grade students, the first group of students to experience six years of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile and inquiry-based learning, presented our very first Student PYP Exhibition under the theme of Sharing Our Planet. These students completed their focused research in small groups and in March presented their findings and solutions to LES students, community and district representatives. On May 22, our fifth grade students participated in our Day of Action and Celebration. Our fifth grade students were placed on five different teams based on their research topic. Each team completed different tasks chosen by their teams during our Day of Action and Celebration to support our school and community.
· Team 1 — LES Nature Trail Maintenance and campus landscaping
· Team 2 — Collected and donated peanut butter and jelly for summer food stables and stocked shelves at Mission Lexington
· Team 3 — Visited the Lexington County Emergency Preparedness Division Center, collected cleaning supplies and assembled Flood Buckets, and donated their remaining school supplies to fill five Student Backpacks for flooded schools
· Team 4 — Held a car wash for donations toward purchasing an additional Water Bottle Refilling Station for LES
· Team 5 — Worked with a local church and assembled 100+ Weekend Snack Packs for LES students for the final two weekends of the school year.
We have a long, proud tradition at LES for providing a caring, safe environment and a strong instructional program for all our students. We will continue to build on that tradition as we prepare students for a successful future.
James H. Hamby, Principal
Ari Teal, SIC Chair