Vision

Our vision at West Goshen Elementary School is to develop students who have the thinking skills, character traits, and global awareness necessary to work together in a diverse world.

Our school is a place where all students grow and learn, both academically and socially.  Our entire staff works hard to provide the best high-quality instruction to ALL students, and it is an honor and a privilege for us to be a part of the West Goshen community.   Our parents, together with our staff and students, are crucial to our school’s success.

At West Goshen Elementary School, we will develop students who have the thinking skills, character traits, and global awareness necessary to work together in a diverse world.

 

215 Dewey Ave
Goshen, IN 46526

(574) 533-7855

Administrative Leadership

Aimee Schade – Principal
Lynnette Priebe – Bookkeeper
Tammy Unrue – Registrar
Sophia Charlebois -Vergara – Parent Liaison
Jodi Lantz- Counselor
Margaret Vukovich – Nurse

Policies

Parents, students, and educators follow a common set of guidelines to make the school year run smoothly. Elementary schools in the Goshen Community Schools district share a standard school handbook. Policy items and contents range from student progress and conferences to the lost and found. The handbook also covers procedural information such as dropping off and picking up students.

(If the forms are not visible below, click here.)

Facts & Figures

Visit the Indiana Department of Education Website

School Improvement Plan

Every school, as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Indiana’s Public Law 221, must have a school improvement plan. Each school has an improvement team comprised of staff, parents and community members. These teams developed their initial building plan in 2001-02 and revise the plan as needed each year.

Student Life

The staff at West Goshen encourages parent, family and community involvement in the education and learning process of their students. To enhance and accomplish the mission of West Goshen, the following programs, frameworks, and activities are available:

Recognizing Effort and Achievement

  • Learner Profile and Attendance Awards – Students displaying what West Goshen refers to as our Learner Profile (i.e., principled, caring, open-minded, balanced, inquirers, thinkers, communicators, reflective, knowledgeable, and risk-takers) are recognized for setting goals and reaching those goals around an area of the profile. Perfect student attendance is also recognized and celebrated in each grading period. Perfect attendance is also recognized for the whole year. This way West Goshen sets the tone that being here truly is valued. Reaching our individual goals toward the Learner Profile cannot occur if a student is not in attendance.
  • Fifth Grade Celebration – This celebration happens in the spring of every year. Fifth graders enjoy a day filled with collaborative games and a picnic lunch. This time marks the end of one time period in a student’s life and the beginning of another. Students know that they continue to be part of the West Goshen Community, and we continue to offer them help and support.

Partnering for Success

  • Newsletters – The principal sends home a newsletter each month to parents, while teachers send home newsletters on a monthly/weekly basis. The newsletter from the principal is available in both English and Spanish.

Technology Education

  • 1:1 technology – Each student has his/her own iPad to use for instructional purposes. Portable laptop computers are also available for classroom use.
  • Media Center – Our media center is supported by an excellent librarian who has experience as a former classroom teacher.

Social and Interpersonal Education

  • Conflict Resolution Skills – All students – kindergartners through fifth-graders – learn communication skills that lead to conflict resolution.
  • Spanish classes – All students participate in Spanish class once a week.
  • English as a First Language (EL) – West Goshen has four teachers and one parent/school liaison to work with students and families who are learning English as a new language.
  • Mini-Economy – Some classrooms are set up as mini-economies that continue throughout the year. Real-life experiences are developed and simulated in these classrooms.

Health and Environmental Education

  • Health Visits – First-grade children receive a checkup from an optometrist, and third-grade children receive a checkup from a dental hygienist.
  • Outdoor Education – Fifth graders spend one day at Camp Amigo learning about our environment, understanding how to take care of it, and studying nature.
  • Child Study Team – This team is set up to help give guidance and ideas to parents on how to work with individual children academically, socially, etc.
  • Crisis Team – If a death, serious injury, or other trauma creates a crisis for us as a school, our Crisis Team coordinates the necessary, predetermined steps to meet the needs of students and adults.

Other Opportunities Include:

  • Free Breakfast and Lunch Programs
  • Live, weekly Learner Profile Lessons on the monitor
  • Live morning broadcast of the news by our student leaders – made up of 4th and 5th graders – presented daily
  • Monday folders
  • Chess Club
  • Orchestra
  • PACT Mentors

West Goshen meets the needs of all students by identifying the strengths and weaknesses as early as possible. District-wide programs such as Elkhart County Special Education Cooperative (ECSEC), High Ability Program, and English Language Learner (ELL) mean that West Goshen students learn the skills and tools that will best help them succeed.