Oakwood-Windsor Elementary is a Title I school in a rural section of Aiken County that borders Barnwell County. We serve a diverse population of approximately 430 students in 4k through 5th grade. The nurturing faculty and staff at Oakwood-Windsor is committed to our mission of collaboratively engaging and meeting the needs of all stakeholders to ensure academic, social and emotional growth for our entire Oakwood-Windsor community. We are helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by working in partnership with our entire community to educate the whole child.
At the beginning of the school year, our School Based Leadership Team (SBLT) reviewed our current performance and reflected on the previous school year and the task before us. We crafted a school-wide goal for the school year of ensuring all of our students demonstrate growth. Our mission statement and school-wide goal drove all decisions and action steps during the 2020-2021 school year. Throughout the year, we monitored our progress towards our goal by frequently monitoring student performance on a variety of assessments including formative classroom assessments, Fastbridge and Reading/Math Inventory (2nd-5th grade). During our monthly Data Team and Leadership Team meetings, we discuss our progress and problem solve solutions to help propel our journey forward.
Following our district’s instructional framework and curriculum, teachers at Oakwood-Windsor focus on providing instruction to each of our Wise Owls in a way that results in meaningful learning for the student. Our dedicated teachers work in weekly Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to discuss student progress and plan academically rigorous, standards-based instruction. When students are not making the progress we would expect, we put interventions in place at the classroom level and then move to pull out intervention if needed. Our wonderful team of interventionists work very closely with our teachers to ensure the individual needs of our students are met. Additionally, we strive to ensure our students who demonstrate mastery of the instructional content are provided enrichment opportunities. In the upper elementary grades, our state identified as well as locally identified gifted and talented students are taught using an accelerated and enriched curriculum.
Literacy continued to be a key focus for the year, however, we were also hyper-focused on health and safety which resulted in many of our planned events being put on pause. During this school year, we did implement several structures that promoted literacy within our building. Throughout the year, we celebrated student growth with hallway displays by grade level. We hosted an outdoors literacy night picnic, provided opportunities for students to share the books they have read with their peers and staff on the morning news show, and maintained a wall of book recommendations.
At Oakwood-Windsor Elementary, we place an emphasis on the whole child. We fully believe in educating and constantly evaluating our students’ social, emotional, behavioral and academic needs. Over the course of the past four years, our teachers have received training to better assist them in assessing each student and meeting their individual needs. In previous years, our students have the opportunity to participate in activities that appeal to and enhance their unique talents. This past year, due to health and safety precautions, our students did not have the opportunity to participate in the clubs previously in place but we look forward to bringing these back for the upcoming school year.
Oakwood-Windsor is truly a community school. This year, due to COVID restrictions and health and safety guidelines, we had fewer opportunities for our community to engage with our students, staff and each other as we typically do. However, we still held events such as an outdoors Literacy Night, a drive-thru Boo Bash, drive-thru Veterans’ Day program, a virtual STEM Night, monthly PTO and SIC meetings (with a virtual attendance option) in order to provide opportunities for our community get involved. We look forward to bringing back and adding onto our community involvement events for the coming school year. We have numerous business and community partners who support our students and school in a variety of ways including giving of their time, donations and even monetary contributions. The generous support of our OWES community partners help us to ensure the social, emotional, physical, and academic needs of our students are met.
We are growing increasingly excited about the 2021-2022 school year as we strive to prepare our students for college and career readiness. While we realize there are opportunities for improvement in all areas, we are very excited about the growth that we have seen! We believe that it is essential and most effective when the students, parents, faculty, staff and the entire community work together as partners in our Wise Owls’ educational journeys. Thank you for your ever-present support as we continue to develop future South Carolina graduates and world-class leaders!
Brooke Meeler, SIC Chair
Davina Truitt, Principal
