With an emphasis on learning, we remain committed to growth for our students to develop the World Class Skills of the South Carolina Graduate. “Let’s Grow Together” served as the motto and creed this year by which Dennis Elementary conducted our primary business. We understand the importance of growing with and for our students, school, and community. With partnering efforts and a student-focused mindset, we succeeded in various facets. To do so, a safe environment conducive to learning was essential. Within the environment, structures, processes, and procedures with a focus on excellence through collaboration, risk-taking, personal and professional growth, and learning for all stakeholders to provide high-quality, standard-aligned instruction to meet the diverse needs of our students and staff.
With commitment and dedication, the staff employed professional learning practices in and out of the school. This aided in planning rigorous learning using various curriculum resources and individual strengths. Professional learning provided a time for learning together, using multiple data tools, to determine the best way to meet the needs of students. As owners of Dennis, the staff was committed to investigating old and new strategies to employ in the classroom setting to help students reach their personal and school-wide goals. Differentiated professional learning allowed us to tailor the support and provide targeted feedback through a student-centered approach. This year, teachers continued their use of the school-wide reading curriculum with an additional curriculum available as a resource. Teachers continued to deconstruct standards and utilize backward design to support the alignment of standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This work was done through a coaching culture and provided additional data to support flexible, small-group instructional practices across academic disciplines.
The work of continuous improvement takes all of us working together to achieve the mission and vision of Dennis. Our stakeholders continue to be an integral part of our school community and work. Through teamwork and collaborative culture, newly established committees celebrate wins and continue the work of increased student achievement. Dennis hosted its Math Night allowing parents and students to engage in standard-driven, conceptual learning through a hands-on approach. Parents and students were also afforded experiences through Parent University Workshops tailored to the feedback of parents to support academic, social, and emotional topics. Celebrating wins has been a consistent message throughout the year. While some practices continued - quarterly awards ceremonies, averaging 100 stakeholders in attendance, end-of-year promotion ceremonies for 4 and 5K and 5th-grade students, and end-of-the-year awards ceremonies for the other grades, new practices were also employed. This school year, staff and student of the month acknowledged excellence in academics and character. Student celebrations also occurred for attendance, growth/progress, and meeting or exceeding goals through morning shoutouts, celebrations, bulletin board recognition, positive notes home, and sharing their success with parents during parenting events. Staff wins were acknowledged on morning announcements, with balloons to recognize goals reached, certificates, celebrations, and tokens our school community partners provided.
“With Dennis Pride, We Will Shine Bright” continued to be echoed throughout Dennis in words, actions, and deeds. School pride and self-care were stressed to all as we worked to create shining moments in and out of the building. We are still building capacity and growing leaders. The creation of Dennis Leadership Retreat allowed us to develop the capacity of staff members who desired to grow and serve as leaders in our school and school community. Beta Club induction was a prestigious event recognizing our students’ academic achievement, character, leadership, and service in grades 4 and 5. Student leadership continued with their involvement in our first Nutcracker performance, HBCU Black History Month Experience, and the Musical Tribute to parents. While academics are stressed, we also understand the importance of meeting and supporting the whole child. We enjoyed spirit weeks for Breast Cancer Awareness, Red Ribbon Week, Mental Health Week, Countdown to Winter Break, and Testing. The canned food drive allowed us to give back to our school community. Our students collected more than 6,000 cans for the Lee community. Our students appreciated events where they were involved in these non-academic service projects to support others through awareness and acts of kindness. The Test Pep Rally was one event that symbolized how we are all in this work together. A School Media Team allowed us to recognize student interests and strengths to capture the precious moments created throughout the year.
School culture is an area that impacts the work done each day. We continued to build our positive school culture with ongoing communication with parents and other stakeholders. Various volunteers served in our school for Read Across America, School Improvement Council, and Teacher Appreciation Week and have geared up to support our many field trips in the coming year. We continued to recognize all stakeholders on our morning announcements and during school-wide events to show the importance of us growing together as partners in the work. To establish positive school-home connections, it was imperative to have open lines of communication. In addition to monthly calls, parents continued to meet with teachers each quarter, with conference rates continuing at 80% or higher. We also utilized technology resources and monthly newsletters, grade level and school-wide, to enhance communication amongst our parents and staff to support needs.
Our motto or creed for the year was not just on paper; it was embodied in the work done throughout the year. Our determination to grow together led to new wins for our students and school. At Dennis, we stress how small successes lead to championships. We are determined to take this year’s wins into next year and build upon them to create new wins. We remain committed to our students achieving excellence. While continuous improvement is hard work, it is priceless work, and we keep our focus on our students in all we do because they are why we do what we do!
