The Fort Mill School District is helping all schools to develop World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by putting “Children First…Everyday.” This purpose statement is embedded in all of the decision-making processes of the FMSD, and is woven throughout the district culture. As we put “Children First,” we address the needs of the whole child ensuring that students have the World Class Knowledge, the World Class Skills, and exhibit the Life and Career Characteristics of the SC Graduate to ensure their success as members of a global community.
At Doby’s Bridge Elementary School, we help students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on the four Cs – critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Our vision statement of Engagement, Enrichment, and Excellence motivates us to create learning experiences for students to challenge them to be critical thinkers, collaborators, creators, and strong communicators.
We believe that students have the ability to perform at high levels, and that student learning happens best when students are highly engaged, and have ownership of their learning. We embrace the Discovery Education STEAM model, and have identified STEAM Leaders in our school who are creating model classrooms to support their colleagues. This year we were selected as one of the host schools for our District's Discovery Education STEAMposium. We had the honor of hosting teachers, administrators, and district leaders from around the world as they observed our teachers and students immersed in STEAM education. Some of our students represented our school at the National and Worlds VexIQ Robotics tournaments.
Our school acknowledges collaboration between students, teachers, and parents. We have a highly engaged parent community that provides outstanding support for our instructional programs and for our students. Our PTO supports school efforts through helping fund classroom libraries, instructional resources, and hands on materials. Our School Improvement Council embraces a continuous improvement model and utilizes a Recommender Survey to obtain parent feedback on areas of strengths as well as opportunities for growth. This year we were able to host our first Bridge to the Trail night for our 5th grade families in order to help accumulate our students with the transition to Middle School.
As a learning community, our teachers collaborate on a weekly basis. Our teachers engage in Professional Learning Communities on a weekly basis, where they focus their time and talents on answering one or more of the four focus questions of a PLC. The PLC culture provides teachers with the opportunity to work together to plan for instruction, engage in intervention/enrichment opportunities, and analyze data to help ensure student success. Our teachers also engage in collaboration through our semesterly Teacher as Leaders Professional Development. Teachers are encouraged to share their learning through presenting to staff.
We do not believe that learning is only limited to the instructional day; rather we provide engagement and enrichment opportunities before school for all students through our Engage and Enrich Program, which includes movement, STEAM challenges, problem solving games, and access to instructional technology. Students also have a variety of opportunities for after school activities such as Girls on the Run, Let Me Run, News Team, & Vex IQ robotics teams. For students who are unable to stay in the afternoons, we also have opportunities for students to serve during the day in many other activities. Students can participate in Student Ambassadors, Safety Patrol Team, Nutrition Team, Green Team, and Library Helpers.
We believe in creating a culture of respect and responsibility. As a school we help create this through using positive reinforcements with our students and staff This year we began Braggin' Dragons, an incentive used by teachers, staff, and substitutes to promote positive behavior. Students are recognized weekly for displaying "DRAGON" characteristics. Students and teachers are also recognized through our Dragon of the Month ceremony.
Our staff believes in utilizing social media to communicate our message "We are The Bridge". Teacher use See-Saw and Twitter to spread our story. The staff and families at Doby’s Bridge Elementary School are committed to Building the Bridge for our students as they develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
