Parents

Welcome to Gault Elementary School

We will build a safe, caring community that fosters respect, values diverse cultures and languages, practices life skills, and engages in social and environmental service to the community. Through an articulated, integrated, school-wide arts and science program, based on direct experience, we will guide students in discovering the joy and excitement of developing their voices through self-expression. Through a meaningful and developmentally appropriate curriculum, we will ensure all students experience continuous growth in academic skills in order to become complex thinkers, collaborative learners and clear communicators. This mission is accomplished through excellence in teaching and through partnership with parents and our community.


Gault Good to Great Expectations

As a staff, we have worked very hard over the past year to build a positive behavior system for our school. We have used a system called Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS). It has given us a chance to redeļ¬ne our expectations and to become more consistent with behavior on the playground and in the hallway, the bathrooms and the cafeteria. You can help your child with this goal by asking them at home about the Gault Good to Great Expectations:

  1. Show Respect
  2. Solve a Problem
  3. Make a GoodDecision

All of our guidelines are based on these expectations. You will see these posted around the school, including the bathrooms! We will continue to have this focus for the year especially witnessing the difference that it made for our community last year and already this year.


The Gault Community

Gault thrives on the community that is created by the parents and families that immerse themselves in the school, it’s truly what makes this school so special. Any questions you have can be answered by clicking on the sections to the left and if you find yourself still seeking more information, don’t hesitate to contact the front office at 831.429.3856. We look forward to seeing you at Gault!


Parent Testimonials

"The teachers and staff at Gault are amazing. They truly care about growing the whole student at Gault through academics and enrichment. We are so happy to have our children attend Gault."

~Regan Eymann

 

"Couldn’t be happier with Gault. I have two boys, in first grade this year, and I am so impressed with the staff and attitude at Gault!!! The school as a whole places a great deal of emphasis on helping the children learn to interact in a kind and respectful way… Figuring out how to manage conflicts, inclusive play, learning how to complement each other, etc. Gault has the best life lab garden of all the Santa Cruz city schools, and a huge parent support system, which funds art and music and PE. My boys get 1 hour of music four times a week through the El Sistema program, and they are also learning Spanish four days a week!!! They are being exposed to diversity and learning to respect differences in culture, language, and traditions. Gault is an amazing school and we feel lucky to be a part of it!"

~Jen Crumbacher

 

"My two daughters are thriving at Gault Elementary! Gault's teachers are incredibly dedicated and they build strong connections with the students. The teachers also do a great job of making learning fun. My kids are eager to go to school every single day.

Gault's Life Lab Garden is amazing! My kids love eating-and preparing- healthy food fresh from the Life Lab Garden.

Gault's librarian is another major asset to the school. She really gets to know each child individually and finds out what they like to read. She makes the best book recommendations and she has helped facilitate some wonderful author visits.

The parent community at Gault is great and it has been so nice to build more friendships with families in our neighborhood. I love volunteering in class and getting to know all the students.

I feel so lucky that Gault is our neighborhood school."

~Alison Endert

 

"I toured several schools in the area in the process of deciding on where to send my children, I had some idea or notion that there must be something wrong with my neighborhood school. Well, it turns out that the something wrong is that I had those reservations in the first place!

Gault teachers utilize a hands-on meet-the-child-at-their-level approach that allows for total differentiation similar to the methodology applied in Montessori based schools. Teachers are deliberate about placing your child with the teacher that is best suited for their learning style. Teachers meet in the summer, discuss every child & they are placed with the confidence that the teacher will be best suited to meet whatever needs the student has. Gault is truly a child-centered school.

No school can excel without community involvement & Gault has the most committed, passionate parents who are an amazing support system to both Gault & one another. Across the school, in every classroom, you will see a steady stream of parents volunteering in some capacity & this ability to connect to families through their children & participate in units of study with the teacher deeply connects parents as well as provides some ownership of the school. Parents are always welcome at Gault!

Music, Art, Life Lab & Spanish classes are all to be found at Gault. When I discovered that my child would be learning Spanish for a portion of the day every day, I was sold. When my son came home & demanded we make pasta with broccoli because he had it in Life Lab I was floored. Every year Gault has a school song (it was 'Happy' one year for example), & hearing children sing is probably one of the most beautiful noises in the world. I can no longer use Spanish to have secret conversations in front of my son because now he has learned enough words to figure out what I am saying.

Gault is an amazing, magical place. Come see it for yourself, your neighborhood school has much to offer - including a minimal commute & free lunch to boot!"

~Bunny Tessier


"Gault has been an overwhelmingly positive school environment. My children have received the guidance and care of a highly motivated and experienced team of teachers and support staff. As a parent I feel completely confident of the academic opportunity to learn the school provides. Communication between school and home is very high. The community between parents in support of the school is exemplary. A most important benefit of having my children attend their neighborhood elementary is evident in the strong friendships they have with their follow students and the real sense of pride they all share in their neighborhood school. This strength of feeling extends to our local business community, who are ever ready year after year to support Gault in extending many enrichment programs to the students. The life lab, library, art and music at Gault are a huge attraction to parents. These vital programs benefit the children enormously. We are immensely proud to be members of the Gault Elementary Family."

~Maryanne Campbell