On behalf of the faculty and staff at Holly Springs-Motlow Elementary, we would like to extend our appreciation to all of those involved in our successes this past school year! Holly Springs-Motlow Elementary School continues to strive to meet all students where they are, as they develop the World Class Skills exhibited in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We continually seek out opportunities to meet the needs of all students.
During this past school year, we celebrated receiving the Distinguished Arts Program Grant, as well as an Arts in Basic Curriculum Grant. Additionally, our school just finished year three of our partnership with artsNOW. The grant funding provided by the aforementioned institutions has allowed students the opportunity to express their creativity through a number of Artist in Residencies. In addition to our students being provided high quality arts instruction, our teachers have been afforded the opportunity to observe arts infused lessons, as well as quality professional development during the school year. These professional development experiences have sparked many creative ideas in the classroom and we are excited to see how these grants will continue to grow our school in the coming years. For example, through our partnership with artsNow, Holly Springs - Motlow Elementary was chosen to participate in a 6 school grant worth approximately 3.98 million dollars entitled Expanding Creativity , Engagement and Literacy (EXCEL) through Arts Integration. In addition to professional development in the arts, our K-3, MLL, Sped teachers, administrators and interventionists received training through the LETRS program regarding the science of reading and key components of literacy instruction.
We are also in the fourth year of implementing our Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Lab. Our primary and elementary students were given opportunities to enhance their education through hands-on learning that empowers our students to solve real world challenges and adopt a design-thinking mindset. The Project Lead the Way model helps to develop skills desired in the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate. Our Project Lead the Way Teacher stated, “PLTW is a transformative learning environment that empowers students to develop in-demand knowledge and world-class skills necessary to thrive in an evolving world.” In addition to the transformational pedagogy utilized in PLTW, our students simply enjoy the program and we look forward to continuing to benefit from this program during the upcoming school year.
Whether it be arts-infused lessons, Project Lead the Way modules, group projects, researching in the media center, Holly Springs - Motlow strives to promote creativity, innovation, problem solving, collaboration and understanding how to learn though the use of media and technology.
These opportunities do not happen by chance. Our staff continues to explore best practices and resources in order to prepare our students for further education and life outside of the classroom setting. We are honored to share that our school was recognized as a Palmetto Gold school based upon our state testing data. Our continued success is a product of hard working teachers, supportive parents, and a community that is committed to our school and our students. I extend a special thank you to each of you. We cannot wait to see what the 2026-2027 school year holds!
