Gateway Elementary School
“Success Begins Here!”
Annual Report to the Community 2023
Dear Parents and Community Members,
It is my distinct privilege to share with you our annual Report to the Community for the 2022-23 school year. On behalf of our students, faculty and staff, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support as we work together to provide our students with an exemplary learning environment. I would be remiss if I did not also share my gratitude for your continued support of our teachers and staff as well! Gateway has been quite literally showered with monthly snacks, positive emails, words of encouragement and amazing PTA sponsored lunches and coffee cart visits! The support from each of our stakeholders is a vital component in successful attainment of our primary goal: ensuring that our Gators are well-equipped at the elementary level, to become college and career ready, as young adults.
Gateway’s stakeholder support extends well beyond our classroom walls. Our community stakeholders provided essential resources to strengthen the social and emotional growth of our Gators when they leave our campus as well . For example, The Cliff’s Valley and Cliff’s Mountain Park outreach communities, The Bank of Travelers Rest and Trinity Presbyterian church among many others, continue to provide holiday assistance to needy families, countless boxes of school supplies, and kid-friendly food items each week to assure that our students are well fed over the weekends.
Gateway’s PTA had a banner year in 2022-2023! Our PTA assured that every single Gator received a special Valentine surprise on Valentine’s Day, sponsored a petting zoo to recognize exemplary student behavior, planned a fantastic Grandparents and Special Friends luncheon as well as a fabulous fall festival, and provided faculty treats and duty free lunch opportunities throughout the school year. Additionally, our PTA is using funds raised this year to give our kindergarten playground a much needed facelift. Exciting changes are on the way for our smallest Gators! As you can see, Gateway continues to thrive because of the support of our PTA and major stakeholders, and we are so grateful to our wonderful Travelers Rest community.
In addition to ensuring that our Gators are provided with an educational atmosphere that promotes social and emotional growth, the academic progress of our Gators is equally important. As you know, Gateway again received an “EXCELLENT” overall rating on our 2021-2022 state report card! Excellent work deserves an excellent celebration, and that is exactly what we planned for our Gators! Our faculty and staff enjoyed a surprise cook-out, personalized T-shirts and an ice cream day to recognize our accomplishment.
Achieving an “Excellent” rating is not an easy goal to attain, but one that we are committed to earning each school year. In order to achieve this goal, the faculty and staff of Gateway Elementary School continue to attend monthly professional development sessions to improve our professional knowledge to assure academic growth for all students. This includes professional development presented by our own staff members! As a result, our staff continues to embed rich, learning experiences into weekly lessons for our students.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Gateway conducted a series of “Learning Walks”, “Instructional Rounds”, and “Feedback Calibration Classroom Walkthroughs” throughout our building to fully assess how our students were performing in the classroom. The Feedback Calibration Walkthrough exercises, allowed our leadership team to discuss observation feedback that is shared with teachers, and assure that we provide our team with timely, actionable, and relevant ideas and suggestions to improve student learning. After each Learning Walk our team charts findings and opportunities for improvement that are then embedded into our professional development plan. Our progress is then monitored by our Instructional Rounds, and again charted to share findings with our staff.
In closing, I would like to again express our sincere appreciation for your support of Gateway Elementary School. This year has once again brought frequent reminders of how truly special it is to be a part of such a thriving and resilient community of stakeholders. Our school climate and academic goals that follow, include an increase in the academic component, as our Gators surpassed the original goal in 2022! Together, with your continued support, we will continue to surpass our expectations.
Academic Goals
Goal 1: The percentage of students scoring Meets Expectations and Exceeds Expectations on SC READY ELA will increase from 48.5% in 2016-17 to a minimum of 66.9% in 2022-23.
Goal 2: The percentage of students scoring Meets Expectations and Exceeds Expectations on SC READY Math will increase from 59.1% in 2016-17 to a minimum of 67.5% in 2022-23.
School Climate
Goal 4: Maintain at least 95.0% attendance rate for all students and all student sub groups from 2019 through 2023.
Objective: Continue to maintain at least 95.0% attendance rate for all students and all student subgroups for the 2022-2023 school year.
Teacher and Administrator Quality
Goal 5: Maintain 100% of teachers as highly qualified from 2019-2023.
Objective: Continue to meet qualification criteria for 100% of teachers in all areas of certification.
The school renewal plan includes elements required by the Early Childhood Development and Academic Assistance Act of 1993 (Act 135) and the Education Accountability Act of 1998 (EAA). We revise, monitor progress and adjust our goals within the plan annually in collaboration with our school faculty and staff, and our SIC (School Improvement Council).
Lastly, I feel that it is only fitting to again share our core values and beliefs. Our values and beliefs are the core of who we are, what we do, and how we think and feel. Values and beliefs reflect what is important to us; they describe what we think about educating our children, while continuing the focus of remembering that the hearts and minds of our children are of equal importance. Each school year, our staff revisits these guiding principles to assure that they truly reflect our current beliefs. We examine and align our instruction, curriculum, and assessment initiatives to meet the expectations of 21st Century learners. We think that it is important to include our values and beliefs in our annual report as they set the tone for all that we do, and remind us of our purpose as educators.
We believe…
● We believe all students and staff should be valued and treated with respect and dignity.
● We believe a safe environment is essential to the learning process.
● We believe all children and adults should be challenged to view life from different perspectives.
● We believe self-respect, discipline, and social skills should be modeled and reinforced at school.
● We believe family and community engagement in the learning process is an essential component for student success.
● We believe instruction should meet the needs of all students.
● We believe students should communicate ideas, collaborate productively, solve problems, think critically and creatively while consistently reflecting on their own thinking and learning.
● We believe that an effective learning community empowers all educators to make informed decisions and provides experiences through data driven planning to ensure the success of each student.
● We believe each member of our school community can be a successful, global citizen and 21st century lifelong learner.
Purpose
The purpose of Gateway Elementary School is to educate, prepare, and empower our students to become tomorrow’s leaders. We, as the Gateway community, will lead and educate to the best of our ability and seek opportunities for personal and professional growth in our mission for continuous improvement. Our students will become effective communicators, developing appropriate social and decision-making skills by collaborating with others.
Mission
The mission of Gateway Elementary School is to provide a diverse and individualized educational environment along with experiences that develop, guide, empower and mentor students to be confident, creative, collaborative problem solvers and responsible lifelong learners. We strive to provide our students with an atmosphere that models and teaches empathy, respect, and strategies for productive problem solving and developing a growth mindset. Our dedication to this mission will foster active, productive members of society and career ready leaders of tomorrow.
Shared Vision
The focus for our vision at Gateway Elementary School emphasizes the ability to recognize strengths within ourselves and in others. We provide meaningful experiences that empower students to analyze data, track their learning progress and utilize critical thinking and technology as tools for learning.
Sincerely,
Susan Stubley, Principal
Jay Owens, SIC Chair