Springfield Middle School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by maintaining and achieving high academic standards, creating a school culture that supports and challenges our students, and by providing the foundational skills for student success. As a part of the Fort Mill School District partnership with Discovery Education and our Full STEAM Ahead initiative, we are preparing our students for their future by integrating the four C’s of 21st Century Learning. Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity are an integral part of our daily instruction. Small group instruction and literacy has been a centerpiece of our staff development activities over the past few years. The strategies within small group instruction helps to promote the four C’s. Our teachers are constantly searching for ways to help our students communicate, collaborate, think critically, and be creative.
As part of this STEAM initiative, and our commitment to increasing our culture of literacy, we kicked off the school year by reading the book Count Me In by Varsha Bajaj. This book had many lessons for our students about diversity. We focused on the kindness in people and how many face discrimination because of how they look. Many lessons were taught and discussed.
We are in our fifth year as a Schools To Watch school. This designation allows us to collaborate with all of our stakeholders as it relates to academic excellence, being developmentally responsive for our students, providing social equity for all students, and continuing to develop the school structures and programs that support our students and parents. Our daily schedule was developed so that our students would be able to collaborate with each other and our staff. Students are given opportunities to develop creativity through Friday clubs and academic enrichment during our Horsepower Half Hour period. Of course, our athletic program, band program, and other school activities give our students and staff the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and be creative. There are also many service opportunities through our Beta Club, Student Council, and other organizations, which also promote the four C’s. The pandemic slowed many of our efforts, but there was an emphasis on service.
Springfield Middle School continues to focus on being developmentally responsive to the needs of the adolescent learner. Academic enrichment is available to all students both during the school day and after school with transportation provided. A district grant helped us serve many of our struggling students. Students are tutored individually and in groups. They are given opportunities to practice organization, time-management, goal setting, the growth mindset, and social skills during the school day.
The pandemic created a new type of school year as we began 2020 – 2021. We started with an alternate day schedule for our “A Day” and “B Day” students. We collaborated with several local churches to have a study hall for students on their day at home during our A/B school days for a large part of the school year. We are very grateful for our partnership with these organizations and support from the community to help our students grow academically.
At SMS, we had very small class sizes and students were required to remain six feet apart. Many students were invited to come in on their off days to SMS so that we could help them with improvement. Our other group was our virtual students. Some did very well in this format and some did not. We brought back a number of these students to live instruction to help them with success. From March 15 until the end of the year, our A/B students came together for five days a week of instruction in-person. We added desk shields to our classrooms so that students could be three feet apart. Learning continued no matter the circumstances. Our students and teachers were up to the challenge!
In closing, we want our students to be prepared for their futures. College and career readiness is a collective effort of the K-12 years. We strive to prepare and encourage students to become well-rounded individuals ready to accept their roles in an ever-changing society. Our mission statement is “The mission of Springfield Middle School is to prepare all students academically, socially, and emotionally for their futures...every day.” The Fort Mill School District vision and purpose includes “Children First . . . Everyday.” At Springfield, we embrace the district vision and purpose. Our mission statement parallels the constant of Children First. We use this to drive the decisions we make on a daily basis.
Jamie Wosje, School Improvement Council Chairperson
Keith Griffin, Principal
