The mission of St. Stephen Elementary School is to provide exceptional classroom instruction with engaging learning opportunities that are differentiated to meet the needs of all children.  We are committed to creating an educational environment that will ensure our students success in school and in life. We understand that the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired now will be the foundation for future learning. Our school is helping all students develop the world-class skills and life/career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by maintaining and achieving high academic standards, creating a school culture that supports and challenges our students, and by providing the foundational skills for student success.

We realize that today's students need the skills and confidence to succeed as leaders in the 21st Century. They need to be able to communicate clearly, to work as a team, to be self-motivated and to be analytical thinkers. Our students need the organizational and technical skills to compete in a global society. We believe that it is our responsibility to develop our young leaders by providing them with the skills that will allow them to handle themselves in any given situation. Leadership is the foundation of everything that we do at St. Stephen Elementary. During the 2018-2019 school year, our students continued to participate in The Leader in Me process and celebrated many personal and academic accomplishments through Leadership Days, goal-setting, data notebooks, and student-led conferences. Our students continued to apply Dr. Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to their everyday lives.

We continue to focus on helping our students become creators, communicators, critical thinkers, and collaborators using technology. Our students in grades K - 2 use iPads each day to create stories and bring them to life with programs that encourage creativity and voice. They use them as a tool for research, helping them to navigate through resources that are only available electronically. Their math skills continue to develop through their individual use of technology. Our students in grades 3-5 use Chromebooks as a tool for critical thinking from coding to complex problem solving activities. Fifth grade student also took coding classes.

Through professional book studies, staff development opportunities, additional coursework and peer observations, our faculty continually strives to learn and grow to maximize the effectiveness of their instruction and to create the best possible learning environment.  Students receive quality instruction in language arts, math, science and social studies that provide a solid foundation for career and college readiness.  In addition, students participate in related arts such as physical education, technology, visual and performing arts to provide a well-rounded world class learning experience that, combined with core content subjects, encourages creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and teamwork.

Our school motto is “Enter to Learn, Depart to Lead.”  We are very proud at St.  Stephen Elementary School to know that we are indeed preparing students for success in school, in the workplace and in life.