About Our School
Located in the Village of Wakefield neighborhood of the town of South Kingstown, Wakefield Elementary School (WES) serves students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade in 16 classrooms. Downtown Main Street shops are just across the river behind the school. The area is known as a relaxing seaside community with frequent family events including parades, cultural arts exhibits and free concerts. The close proximity to The University of Rhode Island in Kingston offers many benefits to residents and our entire school population.  The original Wakefield Grammar School was destroyed by fire during the night of March 11, l963. The present Wakefield Elementary School was built in l964 and had a new wing dedicated in 1990. The school had nine principals from 1964 to present. It housed kindergarten through
fourth grade for many years and then changed to serve grade one through grade six for eight years. In 2000 it became home to kindergarten through fifth grade students and is now a K-4 school again with all of the district's 5th and 6th graders attending the Broad Rock School.WES has maintained a strong reputation as a quality educational environment which seeks to foster the social/emotional and rigorous academic needs of its students. WES was the first in South Kingstown to develop a Site Based Management Team. Currently the demands of the school are divided between the School Improvement Team and the Advisory Communication Team which helps handle the day to day issues that arise. Teachers and staff are well invested in their young charges and pitch in with creative problem solving ideas as needs arise. WES has a strong history of community service and connection. The Wakefield Wizards are encouraged daily to follow the Golden Rule, to put forth their best effort, to help others succeed, and to make good choices as in the words of Gandhi to "Be the change they wish to see in the world" by also being P-E-A-C-E M-A-K-E-R-S, an acronym that derived from the concept of PEACE where we collaborate with community as Parents and Educators Affirming Children in a caring Environment. This expands to PEACE MAKERS which reflects the Word of the Month encouraging the development of strong character trait that emphasize making positive choices.
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Polite Empathetic, Altruistic, Caring, Even-Tempered
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Mindful of Others, Amicable, Kind, Environmentally aware, and Responsble |
Students are recognized and celebrated for positive actions that reflect a peaceful and caring environment. The South Kingstown District has worked vigorously to implement a school wide Positive Behavior Interventions Support program (PBIS) based on a model for teaching and recognizing expected behaviors. Our school is utilizing this system to enable all students and staff to clearly understand the behavioral expectations in our school. We will provide positive behavioral support and reasonable consequences. We are embracing this philosophy in an effort to build a truly caring community in which every child and adult feels connected and respected through a common language and a personal commitment on the part of staff, students and parents. To learn more about this program visit the Rhode Island PBIS Site http://www.ric.edu/sherlockcenter/ripbis/index.html
Rhode Island is in the process of transitioning from Grade Level Expectations or (GLE’s) to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). South Kingstown teachers in partnership with the Dana Center (Austin, TX) are working on developing curriculum to align with the CCSS. Teachers continuously participate in Job-Embedded Professional Development in order to stay current in research based best practices. Our School Improvement goals are based on data that drive our instruction as we seek to meet the needs of “ALL KIDS-EVEYDAY”. Wakefield School is proud of the community partnerships it has formed and the level of family engagement that exists. We are committed to providing the academic rigor necessary for all students reach their full potential and become successful life-long learners. |
