Focus on K-8 Education

In looking at defining a vision for Trident Academy, we’ve looked closely at our strengths and weaknesses. We believe that our ability to provide students with language-based learning differences the tools and strategies to be successful is unparalled in the Charleston area. We also recognize, and affirm, that many of our parents judge success by their child’s ability to successfully transition to mainstream schools.

With this in mind, our goal for Trident Academy is a vibrant, leading edge K-8 program that serves our creative learners in a way that no other school can.

To do this, we will expand our professional development commitment to allow every teacher the opportunity to pursue their curiosity for new ideas and classroom strategies. Our teachers will join a team of resources in fields related to learning differences – behavior, educational psychology, neurology, pediatrics, and pharmacology. This will serve our parents and will also spur our thinking in new directions.

We will create opportunities for our students to find their passion, acknowledge their strengths, and feel comfortable with and motivated by their challenges. We will establish meaningful partnerships with local private and public schools that provide our students/parents with a thorough understanding of the culture, expectations and support available to make our students successful at their transition school.

By dedicating more resources to K-8 students, we have decided we will not be accepting new admissions to our Upper School. We will spend the remainder of this year working closely with each student/family to ensure their academic goals are met.

Please contact me with any questions.

Sandi

What We’ve Accomplished

We’re halfway through the year, and I’m excited for the vision of Trident’s future that is beginning to emerge. We’ve been so productive defining this vision that I’ve had little time to blog!

When we began the year, my focus was on addressing issues that I sensed were important to current parents.  These included a defined curriculum, a culture of collaboration supporting the transition of students out of Trident Academy, improved communications, and an overall attitude of partnership and consultation in our relationship with parents. 

To that end, we have invested heavily in professional development to understand and implement the Common Core Standards, been vigilant in communicating our plans and philosophy, brought nationally renowned speakers to the campus to work with our faculty and help enlighten our parents, created a team–oriented parent conference format that places each child’s abilities and needs at the center of the discussion, and begun an area-wide investigation of mainstream schools so that we can advise parents on the best possible next step for their child’s successful transition from Trident Academy.

At the same time, The Board of Trustees has been hard at work defining Trident’s future. I will be excited to share this vision with you once it is refined. In the remainder of this academic year, I am committed to laying the groundwork for next year’s success and completing the goals I set

This is an exciting time for Trident Academy.  On this holiday of thanks, I thank you for your support, your engagement, your commitment and most of all, your children. They are our reason for being.

Sandi