Hunley Park Elementary School, which opened in 1959 and is represented by its mascot Alpha the Buzzy Bee, has remained committed to the growth of its community. The school's main objective is to equip every student with the world-class skills expected of a South Carolina graduate. Our committed teaching staff provides an intensive curriculum that prioritizes critical thinking, collaboration, student engagement, and literacy development. Furthermore, we recognize the importance of social-emotional learning and ensure a supportive learning environment for our young scholars.
To cultivate literacy, our students read academic texts that relate to their lives, leading to meaningful discussions. Our classrooms encourage collaboration, and our teachers use discussion protocols to facilitate students' engagement in debates and exchanging ideas. If you walk into our classrooms, you will see teachers facilitating discussions with our scholars using collaborative discussion protocols. We place significant emphasis on strengthening our students' numeracy skills, and our teaching approach is centered on visual models, problem-solving techniques, peer-to-peer discourse, and the defense of answers. These protocols allow students to think critically, encouraging all students to participate and be engaged. It is a joy to hear our scholars using math concepts to make sense of their world and connect those concepts with their environment.
Our field trips are an integral part of our curriculum. They serve as opportunities to enrich our students' knowledge and provide practical experience. For instance, we visit Bee City to learn about bees, the aquarium to explore sea life, the Barrier Islands to learn about scientific inquiry skills, and career days to learn about professions. Additionally, our students have access to a well-rounded curriculum that includes career day, art, physical education, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), computer, music, competitive sports like soccer clinic, basketball, and cheerleading, and various clubs such as chess, games, physical activity, mindfulness and self-care, cooking, gardening, dance, and virtual field trips.
Beyond academics and extracurricular activities, we focus on maintaining a safe learning environment that promotes positive behaviors for all of our scholars. We are a Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) school. We use the PBIS framework and the corresponding lessons to teach students our academic, behavioral, and safety expectations. We rely on the lessons from Second Step to foster social and emotional skills. We celebrate the students who demonstrate these behaviors by awarding them with BEE bucks that they can use to purchase items from our school store, and they can attend our PBIS celebrations that we hold each semester.
Hunley Park aims to create a positive school environment that meets our students' social, emotional, and academic needs. All adults at Hunley Park are committed to this goal—equipping our scholars with the skills they need to be effective contributors to their community, compete globally, and be ready for their future in their careers or college.
Walking through the hallways of Hunley Park Elementary School, one can feel the buzz of a supportive community where every student is loved and welcomed.
Katchia Gethers, Ed.D., Principal
John Frasier, SIC
