At North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary (NCCAE), student learning can be achieved for every student, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, academic level, or exceptionality. Our mission is to use arts integration to provide a nurturing environment that engages lifelong learners. This dynamic approach to learning sparks our students' creativity, celebrates their uniqueness, deepens their connection to the content, and strengthens their sense of belonging to our school. Most importantly, this approach combines art with learning to help reinforce the knowledge students need to acquire.
All of our students access an array of programs to facilitate student engagement and learning:
Visual Arts: Focuses on instilling creativity and confidence in all students through the development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, and risk-taking.
Dance: Exposes our students to a variety of styles, including jazz, ballet, tap, and modern, with an emphasis on embracing creative movement.
Theater: Features a "black-box style" classroom with costumes, props, and lights. The program focuses on enhancing literacy skills through engaging drama lessons and activities.
General Music: provides each student with a well-rounded music education, encompassing singing, hands-on instrument play, theory, and performance opportunities to foster student confidence and a love of music.
Strings and Piano: additional elective classes families can sign up for that offer leveled instruction in Kindergarten through the 5th grade.
Students in 3rd-5th grade have additional opportunities to focus on arts areas through clubs that occur twice a week for 4th and 5th grade students and once a week for 3rd grade students.
We hold the distinction as an Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) site. Additionally, our designation as a Title I school provides us with access to federal funding to offer targeted instruction and interventions for all students. NCCAE is also the recipient of the ABC Grant. The grant has helped provide academic arts and classroom teachers with basic art supplies and professional development to support arts integration. Our partnership with Engaging Creative Minds has provided students and teachers in grades 3-5 with artist-in-residency opportunities during the 2024-2025 school year.
To meet Vision 2027 - where all students will read on grade level by grade 5, we operate a comprehensive Multi-Tiered System of Supports to accelerate all learners and aim daily to cultivate a learning space that challenges our students to be creative thinkers, complex problem solvers and college and career ready scholars prepared to be the leaders of tomorrow.
LaToya Smith, Principal
Meredith English-Perrone, SIC Chair
