Shoally Creek Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by implementing a team approach to providing students a quality education in a positive, safe and supportive learning environment. Our dedicated faculty and staff commit to engaging all students in a rigorous curriculum, which provides opportunities to educate and develop the "whole child".
SCES is a proud Title I school that provides resources and opportunities to meet the various levels of needs among all of our students. Our school continues to be a certified Jon Gordon Energy Bus School, where the entire school staff, student body, and community are committed to the seven guiding Energy Bus Principles that provide common language and values that are practices daily. We experience a more energized and motivated staff and student body who are eager to come to school and engage in a positive culture of teaching and learning. The SCES administration, staff, and School Improvement Council (SIC) work together to utilize relevant data and survey feedback in order to establish goals that positively impact student readiness in all student growth areas - academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. We believe that positive energy, combined with positive people creates positive results.
Student success is encouraged through academic assistance, a wide range of special services, engaging learning activities, and RtI (Response to Intervention). A focus on John Hattie’s study of ‘what has the greatest influence on student learning?’, common formative assessments, data analysis, teacher clarity, and student learning progressions are guiding specific instruction within our classrooms in order to improve the academic achievement of all students. Using the High Impact Teams “Evidence, Analysis, and Action” (EAA) protocols, grade level teams dive deep into a variety of data points, as well as unpack the state standards together for teacher clarity, which plays a critical role in planning and differentiating instruction during our two weekly collaboration meetings with instructional coaches known as Teaching and Learning Teams (TLTs). Small group instruction is the catalyst for addressing individual student needs based on students' strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Within our school, teachers participate in TLTs where they work collaboratively with our knowledgeable math and literacy coaches to review assessments and data in order to identify and meet the needs of our students. Teachers also collaborate with one another in preparing rigorous and engaging lessons based on the SC College and Career Ready Standards. Initiatives such as Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Response to Intervention (RtI), the “Blue Jay Scholars” afterschool program, iReady Diagnostics, morning computer lab time, the Orton-Gillingham approach, a gifted and talented program, and Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) instruction all provide students with support so that they are successful and progressed monitored for academic growth. Teachers also spend time with instructional coaches learning about the components of effective teaching strategies, such as Guided Math and Guided Reading instruction as well as practice scoring text-dependent analysis writing samples.
Our dedicated teaching staff participates in continuous professional development opportunities at the school and district levels. The Student Learning Objective (SLO) process assists teachers in targeting areas of growth at each grade level. From those areas of growth, teachers write goals and submit a plan to target the areas that require improvement.
Technology remains increasingly important for our students. Spartanburg School District Two continues to implement 1:1 technology at SCES in second, third and fourth grades. Shoally Creek Elementary welcomes the challenges of integrating technology into the academics, as well as meeting the rigorous demands of the SC College and Career Readiness Standards. Technology was highly relied upon during the 2020-2021 school year, as learning was impacted by the global pandemic, COVID-19. COVID-19 protocols were put into place in order for students and teachers to return to in-person learning five days a week. Best practices in instruction were encouraged as safely as possible while adhering to the CDC/DHEC guidelines for face covering, social distancing, and sanitizing. Throughout the school year, there were times that required students and staff to learn or teach remotely due to required quarantining, in which all efforts were made for teaching and learning to continue. Our teachers and students connected through a variety of mediums, such as ZOOM video conferencing, Google Hangout, Class DOJO, SeeSaw, and BLOOMZ.
We encourage and welcome parent involvement as a way to strengthen home and school relations, and are very appreciative of their attendance at our school events. Modifications, due to COVID-19, were made to our annual family events. Events were either held virtually or were held in a drive-thru format. Such events include our virtual events of PTO Open House, SIC meetings, Veterans Day Performance, and Art Show, as well as our drive-thru events of monthly Spirit Nights, Family Literacy Night, and Family Math and Science Night, just to name a few.
Realizing the importance of educating the whole child, our entire staff engages in The South Carolina Resilient Schools Initiative. Being able to understand each child’s story is another means of better serving and meeting the needs of our students and their families. Throughout the school year, SCES students participated in special activities to help them develop academically, socially, and emotionally. SCES staff and students were recognized for their participation in community outreach projects, such as the SCESCares for The South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, the United Way annual campaign, canned food drives to benefit the Upstate Family Resource Center, and the March of Dimes campaigns.
Effective communication among all stakeholders is critical for a positive sense of community, and that is certainly the case at Shoally Creek. Communication with SCES parents through social media, weekly electronic newsletters, Language Line, a part-time interpreter, a marquee, the SeeSaw app, and School Messenger continues to be a priority, so that they are informed.
Shoally Creek Elementary is committed to cultivating educational excellence for all students and we are proud of the positive strides we have made during our first five years. Our dedicated team will continue to grow each year in order to meet the diverse needs of all of our students as we prepare them to be college and career ready.
Laura Meyer, Principal
Ansley Lane, SIC Chair
