Gaffney Middle School went through a major change in the 2019-2020 school year.  With the closure of Granard Middle School, our student population changed from approximately six hundred students, to over one thousand students.  Even though this merger Gaffney Middle 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, nurturing, and academically challenging learning environment. We provide such an environment by challenging our students with best practices to reach their full potential and by the continuous professional development of our teachers. GMS teachers are always seeking to learn new and effective strategies to use in the classroom such as: Project Lead the Way, Project-Based Learning, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Academy of Reading, Academy of Math, Making Connections Interventions, Advancement via Individual Determination, and utilizing resources provided by our Reading and Behavioral Interventionists. These opportunities and resources, along with our Academic Challenge teams and Lego Robotics teams that are offered after school, help our students develop their creativity, innovation, critical thinking and problem solving. We are proud of our staff's dedication to our students and their families as we work together to foster the academic success for all learners. At GMS we also have various programs outside the academic world to focus on the emotional and social well-being of our adolescent learners. We have recently added focus on the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) framework   This program enables students to develop and learn social, emotional, and behavioral competence, supporting their academic engagement.   When students are taught to effectively use relevant expected social skills for themselves and with others, school climates are more positive, learning environments are designated as safer, and student-educator relationships are referred to as more trusting and respectful.This program rewards our students for displaying positive behaviors, and we celebrate these behaviors with our students during quarterly incentive programs.  We believe it is imperative that our students learn what it means to make positive contributions to the lives of others and to contribute to their communities by edifying those around them, in turn strengthening the entire system. These are skills that we believe are embodied by the life skills component of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. At Gaffney Middle School we believe the school, family, and community must share the educational responsibility of our youth. Thank you for your dedication and support in assisting in the development of our future South Carolina graduates and world leaders! Mrs.Sarah Franks, School Improvement Council Chairperson Dr. Eric Blanton, Principal