Gilbert Elementary School is helping all students develop the World-Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by applying our mission and vision to every aspect of our teaching and learning processes.

Our mission at GES is to empower students by developing the whole child through academics and leadership. Our vision is “growing, learning, leading — together.” To fulfill our mission and embody our vision, we commit to the following: “All students, regardless of circumstances, leave GES with the skills they need to succeed in middle school and beyond.” Teaching and learning develop power skills in all students. GES is a service-oriented center of learning, committed to family and community partnerships. Every adult at GES will be equipped with the skills, resources and support necessary to empower every child to be a successful learner.

GES is a Title I school. In an effort to foster growth in mathematics and reading achievement, we continue to utilize the services of mathematics and reading interventionists. We enlist a family liaison to establish and provide support in encouraging improved school attendance, as well as perform home visits to foster and encourage parent/family engagement.

Teacher teams meet biweekly in focused planning and professional development sessions to ensure critical content standards are taught and assessed with fidelity. Teachers use data from Star360, i-Ready, formative assessments, SC READY/SCPASS testing and summative assessments to measure and monitor student growth and progress. Students collaborate with their teachers to set goals and measure their own growth throughout the year.

GES has a world-class Encore program that includes visual art, teaching for artistic behavior, musical theater, general music, physical education and (new for the 2021–22 school year) Author’s Adventure — our creative writing class. Our Encore schedule is designed so that our students spend an entire week with the same Encore teacher, as opposed to attending a different Encore class each day of the week. This allows for deeper and more meaningful arts instruction.

During the third and fourth nine weeks of 2021–22, GES provided an Extended Day program using ESSER funds for students who struggled academically but were approaching grade-level expectations. The 2021–22 school year was the first year of AVID implementation at GES and we focused on second grade. During the 2022–23 school year, we will expand AVID implementation to first grade, third grade and fourth grade. AVID will expand to kindergarten and fifth grade in the 2023–24 school year.

Will Moody, Principal

Amanda Grigsby, SIC Chair