S.O.A.R

S.O.A.R. Philosophy

At William Penn we value each learner and their personal story. With this comes our core values as a school as defined by our SOAR program. Each student, staff member, and administration strive towards reaching these goals in every section of our building. 

Members of our community are encouraged to Succeed. Success is a strong foundation of confidence that leads to positive behaviors with peers and staff. Success is the basis for what we want in every member of our school community. 

Members of our community will be encouraged to Own Their Actions. Everyone makes mistakes. Those mistakes can be big or small. We can not RESTORE PEACE in our environment unless we own our actions and then attempt to make things right in the moment and the future. 

Members of our community will be encouraged to Act Safely. Safety is the key to all healthy situations. In order to learn, we all must feel safe. It is the groundwork for a strong learning environment. 

Members of our community will be encouraged to Respond Respectfully. Every person in the William Penn community deserves to be respected as an individual. By responding respectfully to others, our community members demonstrate that they acknowledge and value everyone.

The First Impression

It has been a time-honored tradition, passed down from generation to generation. First impressions can last a lifetime. At William Penn Middle School we use our first impression to teach the students the proper expectations in all locations of the building. Staff members engage the students in a week's worth of lessons "teaching" student expectations in different locations in the building. These lessons focus on four building locations, hallways, arrival and dismissal, school-wide events, and cafeteria. 

What does S.O.A.R look like? 

Cafeteria

Bathroom/Locker Room

Digital Citizenship 

School-Wide Events

S.O.A.R. Lessons

At the start of each week, the students are TAUGHT the expectations of each of the following locations and spaces. Staff members walk them through the building while displaying proper behavior and expectations throughout our school. 

Act Safely in the Hallway- Routes and Conversations

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On the fourth day of our SOAR lessons we focused on Acting Safely in the Hallway. Students were taught the expectations and shown a short video on what Acting Safely in the Hallway "looks like" and "sounds like". This amazing animation was created by one of our own. Sam Kersten spent countless hours over the summer and the early parts of the school year, using the content from the lesson to create this masterpiece to be shared with WP students for years to come. 

S.O.A.R Pep Rally

The week comes to a close with a FULL SCHOOL PEP RALLY, which shows school spirit, unity, and togetherness. The PEP RALLY also serves as the final lesson on proper behavior and expectations during a full school assembly. 

As a part of our SOAR program, students are recognized with SOAR Cards. SOAR Cards are given to students when their behaviors in school meet the expected behaviors that were discussed and modeled at the beginning of the year. Once students sign the SOAR card they are able to "spend" that SOAR card in three ways, Grade Level Events, The 200 Board, or for .50 cents at the School Store.