Felton Laboratory School has been in operation since 1920. In 2014 we revamped our schedule and became a year-round public charter school serving approximately four hundred K-8 students. At Felton Laboratory Charter School (FLCS), our school’s mission is to provide a rigorous, creative and diverse learning environment through Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). This interdisciplinary approach to learning allows all of our students to creatively examine the relationship that all subjects play in preparing them for life in a global society, post-secondary education, and the career of their choice. It is with that mindset, that we continuously strive to expose our students to every facet of the “STEAM” concept by providing them with learning experiences that will equip them with the world-class knowledge and world-class skills that they will need to be college and career ready in the 21st Century workforce. We were awarded a three year grant that has allowed us to establish five STEAM Career After-School Academies which provide our scholars with opportunities to begin building an awareness of the infinite jobs and careers related to the STEAM disciplines. These experiences also help our scholars to see the relevance of meeting and demonstrating competency with the academic standards they need to be successful in a specific job or career. To further establish our STEAM school culture and climate, we also embrace problem-based learning teaching strategies. This approach helps us develop real-world analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills in every student so that they can be successful and effective in the 21st-Century workforce. We have a reading interventionist and the Saturday Academy to assist our students that are struggling academically. We also have the 21st Century Program to assist our students after school.
Felton Laboratory Charter School is an exceptional school where classes are small and students receive individual attention both from the staff and the college students who are majoring in education on the neighboring university campuses. We also partner with the High School for Health Professions, another charter school in the area where 90% of our students choose to attend high school when they leave 8th grade.
The school’s year-round calendar allows our students and faculty the advantage of experiencing a ten-day break at the end of each forty-five day grading quarter. These intersession breaks provide everyone with a chance to rest, renew, and recharge their creative juices in order to return to the learning environment fresh, invigorated, and ready to work! Realizing that students will produce what is expected of them; we are determined to accelerate the learning and achievement process of our scholars. Consequently, many of our eighth-grade students enrolled at Felton complete the final year at Felton with Carnegie Units in English 1 and Algebra 1. Finally, as a traditional laboratory school, we seek and welcome every opportunity to nurture the distinctive and collaborative bond we have forged with the two neighboring major institutions of higher learning (Claflin University and South Carolina State University) in our community. We also receive mentoring services from students who attend the Charter High School for Health Professions and the three career centers in Orangeburg County School District (Cope Area Career Center, Lake Marion Technology Center and The Technology Center).
