The faculty and staff of Gilbert Middle School are committed to developing in our students the World-Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. We strive to prepare our students to use our Habits of Character (integrity, empathy and growth mindset) as they become active citizens in our global community. This is accomplished through the utilization of district-approved curriculum, continuous professional learning on best practices in instructional strategies, the integration of technology as a learning tool and personalized support for struggling learners, as well as extension for accelerated learners.
We were excited to focus on student growth this year as a major component of our school work plan. During professional learning sessions, teachers reviewed a variety of data to identify students’ strengths and areas of support. We used i-Ready diagnostics for the first time this year to help us track student growth in the areas of reading and math. These tools also helped us hone in on areas of need for specific students.
This year the entire administrative team returned with the vision of making GMS a place where we all “Belong, Grow, and Serve.” Our school counselors and administrators loop with our students. This allows them to work closely with each other to meet the needs of students, families and staff throughout the year. We are grateful for the commitment of our counseling office to provide support and services to all members of the GMS family.
To increase students’ sense of belonging at GMS, we continued our implementation of daily advisory classes called “Huddle.” All core and exploratory teachers taught a Huddle class three days per week. These Huddle lessons were designed by the Huddle Design Team, made up of GMS teachers, counselors, administrators and instructional specialists. Our Huddle Design Team created another set of Huddle lessons for use by our seventh and eighth graders, while sixth graders used the lessons that were developed last year.
We introduced Habits of Character this year. Our HOC were redesigned by a team of GMS teachers, and focused on the habits of integrity, empathy and growth mindset. These HOC were the focus of Huddle lessons specifically designed to teach students about these habits, and how they align with our vision of making our school a place where we all belong, grow and serve.
GMS students are provided opportunities to study and gain knowledge in other areas, including STEM, iCivics, family consumer science, visual and performing arts, and physical education. This year we were excited to offer a new exploratory offering, outdoor education, in which students learn about camping, physical fitness and leadership.
Our students also have opportunities to explore world languages. In sixth and seventh grade, students choose from Spanish, French and German exploratory classes. In eighth grade, students have the option of taking one of those world language classes for high school credit. We are very proud of the achievement of our students in world languages. Additionally, we have a Spanish immersion program; students who successfully complete the program are able to earn up to three high school credits throughout their middle school career.
This year we held student-led conferences for the first time. Students spent several weeks in Huddle preparing presentations that focused on their goals, strengths, areas of growth and HOC. Parents came to school so that their child could present their student-led conference to them. Parents were then given a chance to ask follow-up questions about their child’s presentation. Eighty-seven percent of our students had a family member come to school for their student-led conference.
In addition to opportunities in academics, GMS strives to develop the whole child by providing outstanding programs in the arts and athletics, resulting in the consistent superior ratings our fine arts students receive at state and regional performances. Our athletic teams also perform at high levels, consistently earning winning records.
We are proud of our students and their accomplishments. We want to thank our parents and community for their support as we continue our efforts to improve the achievement of our students in the classroom and on the performance stage and athletic fields.
Kyle Meetze, Ed.D., Principal
Jessica Handy, SIC Chair
