Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills that are outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. At Buford Middle School, we pride ourselves in providing a well-rounded educational experience, combined with multiple opportunities to engage with college and career paths.
As part of our Making Middle Grades Work Initiative, students at Buford Middle School begin and end each day with dedicated time provided for use of technology, reading, enrichment, or remediation. This not only gives our students time to increase their World Class Knowledge, but also an opportunity to begin developing their Life Skills of self-direction, perseverance, and work ethic. In addition to the four core classes of Math, English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies, our students have exploratory classes which build on the arts, careers, physical and health education, and technology. These classes operate on a STEAM based approach, fostering the essential skills of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. Each spring, our students conduct a career fair that includes non-traditional learning opportunities and family nights. As part of our Career pathways education, we provide a military "boot camp" to learn first hand from those serving in the military branches; as well as a mock interview experience (The MIX) where professionals in our community conduct interviews with our students. These experiences provide for the development of World Class Skills such as perseverance, interpersonal skills and communication.
As a means of monitoring student progress, we use NWEA to MAP benchmark assess our students, in math and ELA, three times a year. This data allows us to meet our student's individual needs; as it provides the teacher's with specific data needed to drive differentiated instruction. As a literacy school, we promote reading year around. This year marked our eleventh year with our summer reading program. Our reading program is designed to help deter summer reading loss. Students not only read for pleasure, but are also exposed to content literacy within their class. Buford Middle School is a 1:1 school. Each student is issued a chromebook to help with classroom assignments. Based on the current national pandemic, our student population is divided among students who learn face-to-face and those who learn virtually. These classes occur simultaneously each day. Our 1:1 initiative has allowed the teachers to connect with their students in ways that have never before been utilized. This year, in an effort to continue our STEAM initiative, our district hired in-house STEAM specialists who are continuing to partner with our teachers to provide students with STEAM-based lessons and activities. Using science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math, students learn to solve real world problems. Teachers in every grade level have been trained on the use of STEAM activities.
Buford Middle School believes that in giving back to the community, we create better citizens. Our students have participated in Relay for Life, the American Heart Association, March of Dimes, Adopt a Highway, and Hope of Lancaster. Our students have also volunteered hours of work at school and many local churches. We have athletes that participate in sports at both the middle and high school levels. All of these activities increase their World Class Knowledge of teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and knowing how to learn.
We believe that it takes a community to make a school successful. At Buford Middle School we utilize multiple forms of communication, in an effort to keep all stakeholders informed. We use Remind, ConnectEd, Blackboard, our school webpage, Facebook and Facebook live as means of communication. Working together with parents, students, and our community, we plan to continue to grow World Class leaders.
Kevin Miller Principal
Ashley Bradley SIC Chair
