Pine Tree Hill Elementary School is cultivating a culture of leadership and excellence while adopting the theme for 2024-2025 “In our Leadership Era”. Our students and families will continue to learn the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Steven Covey which will increase leadership opportunities for all students while teaching them how to goal set and track their personal and educational goals. Our students will have the opportunity to join leadership clubs which will focus on teaching 21st century life skills while creating a culture of student empowerment teaching them that everyone can be a leader! Our Leader in Me principals will provide a holistic approach to education, redefining how we measure success. As we recap the 2023-2024 school year, this program not only improved test scores, but also provided opportunities for students to reach their full potential.
The 2023-2024 school year's goal of streamlining our focus to analyze student data to provide, plan, monitor and evaluate both the academic and behavioral needs of students proved to be a key factor in our success. Creating a core team to develop a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) allowed opportunities to collaborate with teachers and parents and other key stakeholders to make informed decisions for students exceeding benchmarks and those in need of more support. Those decisions included providing more individualized instructional as well as wrap around support services to students to support the whole child. We took pride in the instructional growth our students made this year and plan to continue using this systematic approach to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of all students.
Understanding that no true learning occurs without an authentic relationship, our school also took pride in the success of our family and community engagement and partnerships. Our largest community partner, The Original Six Foundation sponsored our very first My First Library event and our annual One Book, One School, providing over 1,000 books to our bullpups to add to their at home libraries. We enjoyed great honors this year continuing our Distinguished Arts Grant as well as the Duke Energy Science Grant, both providing our students and families with opportunities to experience hands. We were also honored by the South Carolina Chapter of the National Public Relations Association for a media publication which showcased our student and family engagement. Our fabulous Parent-Teacher Organization raised over $15,000, which assisted in our Family Holiday Night, Spring Bullpup Bash, school PBIS store, Kindergarten and 5th Grade promotion ceremonies, and a host of student and teacher incentives. Our Parent-Teacher Organization also sponsored school wide celebrations to honor our retirees as well as our Teacher of the Year and First Year Teacher of the Year, Ms. Angel Cooke, who was also our District First Year Teacher of the Year.
Staying true to our commitment to uniting as "ONE school with many stories," we believe in working together as a TEAM (students, parents, and all staff) to create an environment committed to leading and learning. We will continue to focus on academic achievement, social and emotional learning, empowering students through leadership, and creating a culture of trust and engagement! Great things continue to happen at Pine Tree Hill Elementary School, home of the bullpups!
With Bullpup Pride,
Markeita Barber, Principal
