Pinehurst Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills and Life and Career Characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a safe, caring, and academically challenging learning environment. We help provide such an environment through the implementation of our school-wide shared vision: Students will work towards becoming life-long learners in a warm and inviting environment that promotes individualized learning and collaboration. Our school-wide emphasis on collaboration, communication, and problem solving ensures that every student is a productive member of our school family. We demonstrate this vision by challenging our students with blended learning utilizing 1:1 technology, which will help our students succeed in their future lives and chosen careers.
Collaboration among staff and students is a key component to our success. Teachers are supported by our reading and math coaches, working together each week to implement best instructional practices in the classroom, analyze data to ensure student success, and plan standards-based instruction. Weekly PLC (professional learning community) meetings provide collaboration opportunities for our teachers to plan rigorous and engaging learning opportunities for our students. This year, we have placed a strong emphasis on building the culture and climate of our school, teaching curriculum with fidelity and extending the learning outside of the general education classroom and into the Multilingual Learner (ML) classrooms. By focusing on these three simple things, our weekly PLC sessions have created rigorous conversations over data driven instruction, teaching curriculum with fidelity and meeting the needs of all of our learners.
With our large number of Multilingual Learners (MLs), it is imperative that our students attend school daily. Interactions with teachers and classmates promote the acquisition and development of literacy skills, which enables our students to speak, read, and write in English as quickly and proficiently as possible. Our Early Childhood (1st-3rd) and Special Education teachers are participating in ongoing LETRS Professional Development to gain essential skills rooted in the science of reading to master the fundamentals of literacy instruction. Small group instruction is consistently used to differentiate instruction for all students. With an intentional focus on master scheduling, all students remain in the classroom during CORE instruction, and are pulled during flexible differentiated times to provide ML, Special Education and Intervention to meet the various needs of our learners. Pinehurst Elementary is prepared to meet Charleston County School Districts’ goal of all students reading on grade level by the end of 5th grade in 2027.
PInehurst continues to use the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) program and the Second Step social-emotional curriculum as frameworks for our school climate to ensure learners develop positive relationships that support their educational experiences. By focusing on positive behaviors, staff members naturally create an environment built on trust and focused on desired outcomes. Teachers create matrices, collaboratively with their students, describing what the expectations are throughout the building, including hallways, classrooms, the cafeteria, playgrounds, buses, etc. Teachers and students also collaboratively develop a classroom Code of Cooperation and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to help create consistency with everyday classroom and school procedures.
Pinehurst Elementary School supports our unique and diverse student population in their progression into future South Carolina graduates and leaders!
Paul Pallagi, Principal
Jasmin Celis, School Improvement Council Chairperson