St. Helena Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by continuing to work towards our vision of developing lifelong learners that lead in the community, succeed in the school, and achieve their dreams. With an average of 350 students divided among 22 classrooms, St. Helena Elementary educators, parents, and volunteers work diligently to ensure that the school’s mission statement of empowering students to lead, achieve, and succeed is taking place. Through the use of instructional coaches and teacher leaders, our teachers have the opportunity to participate in weekly professional development to enhance and implement best practices across the curriculum.
St. Helena Elementary School offers two school choice programs. AMES (Advanced, Math, Engineering, and Science) is a rigorous academic program based on building foundational math and science skills through the use of science and engineering projects. Our Learning Through Leadership model provides students with opportunities to build their personal leadership skills. The Leader in Me process empowers young people to make positive, effective, and responsible choices by introducing and reinforcing the 7 Habits, a set of leadership and life skills from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, Synergize, Sharpen the Saw). As part of our Leader in Me journey, time is dedicated to focusing on the habits during our LEAD Time which takes place every morning where teachers and staff members focus on teaching the habits and building relationships with their young leaders
We continue to work on improving student achievement in the areas of math and reading on the local and state level. Students that are not on grade level have the opportunity to meet with one of our four literacy interventionists as well as our full-time math interventionist daily to help meet their needs. We also have an abundance of volunteers from the community that log-in numerous hours to help our students during instructional time. We have an afterschool program funded by the Boys and Girls Club which serves students in grades K-5, where students focus on strengthening their academic and social skills.
By continuing to implement the Leader in Me process, St. Helena Elementary School is helping our students develop world class skills, along with the life and career characteristics of the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate. Teachers use multiple data points to formally and informally assess students, set high expectations, and individualize target goals for student achievement growth. It is through the support of our dedicated staff, parents, and volunteers from Adopt-a- School, the United Way, and AmeriCorps that St. Helena Elementary School is cultivating growth in all of our students and empowering them to lead, achieve, and succeed.
