On behalf of the faculty and staff at Holly Springs-Motlow, we would like to extend our appreciation to all of those involved in our successes this past school year! Holly Springs-Motlow Elementary School continues to strive to meet all students where they are, as they develop the World Class Skills exhibited in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We continually seek out opportunities to meet the needs of all students.
During this past school year, we celebrated receiving the Distinguished Arts Program Grant, along with being recertified as an Arts in Basic Curriculum Site. Additionally, our school just finished year two of our partnership with artsNOW. The grant funding provided by the aforementioned institutions has allowed students the opportunity to express their creativity through a number of Artist in Residencies; which are funded through these grants. In addition to our students being provided high quality arts instruction, our teachers have been afforded the opportunity to observe arts infused lessons as well as quality professional development during the school year. Also, several faculty members have been able to attend the artsNow Foundational Seminar in order to take a more in depth journey through arts integration. These professional development experiences have sparked many creative ideas in the classroom and we are excited to see how these grants will continue to grow our school in the coming years.
We are also in the second year of implementing our Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Lab. Our elementary students were given opportunities to enhance their education through hands-on learning that empowers our students to solve real world challenges and adopt a design-thinking mindset. The Project Lead the Way model helps to develop skills desired in the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate. Our Project Lead the Way Teacher stated, “PLTW is a transformative learning environment that empowers students to develop in-demand knowledge and world-class skills necessary to thrive in an evolving world.” In addition to the transformational pedagogy utilized in PLTW, our students simply enjoy the program and we look forward to continuing to benefit from this model during the upcoming school year.
These opportunities do not happen by chance. Our staff continues to explore best practices and resources in order to prepare our students for further education and life outside of the classroom setting. Our continued success is a product of hard working teachers, supportive parents, and a community that is committed to our school and our students. I extend a special thank you to each of you. We cannot wait to see what the 2024-2025 school year holds!
