Principal's Welcome

Hello, my name is Linda Schuler and I am the proud principal of Bancroft Elementary, a 2008 California Distinguish School!

Welcome to Bancroft School Community and Web Site. The following is a flavor of what children, families and staff experience as a member of our school community. Bancroft has established first and foremost an atmosphere of inclusiveness and belonging. Picture this: It is the first day of school. Every teacher is in his or her classroom, doors opened, and ready to meet and greet families and children. The principal is in the main courtyard, shaking hands, making introductions, and helping students and families locate new classrooms. At the school office front counter, staff helps and supports parents with questions. Everything sparkles from the efforts of our site custodians and district landscapers. In every school location, the Bancroft School Climate Statement is displayed. Bancroft promotes a positive school climate by focusing on the Bancroft Best 3 B's: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible. At the front entrance, beyond the bus circle and school marquee, parent volunteers arrange tables of muffins and coffee to welcome new and returning parents. The first bell of the year rings for students to join their teachers. The year has begun and each day will bring the chance to strengthen relationships and our learning community. Teachers, with confidence and renewed passion, begin the implementation of the best research-based practices, design collaborative lessons around a rigorous standards-based curriculum, delve into diagnostic assessments to plan instruction, and set sail for a year of growth for all students towards grade-level mastery with needed supports, monitoring, differentiation, and adjustments. Central to our school vision and standards-based system is our successful Collaborative Care Team and Learning Center Model, created to include any identified student, using data driven decisions, to implement effective and sustainable instructional and intervention strategies.

The Bancroft learning community is nestled in a middle class, residential neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac with Mount Diablo, just a few miles away, watching proudly over us. Built in 1968, the school consists of four original, air-conditioned, hexagonal buildings, called pods, that house classrooms, the Learning Centers, the Speech Therapy Room, Library/Media Center, Technology Lab, the administrative offices, and the staff room. Two newer classrooms built in 2000, along with three more new classrooms, a concrete plaza, outdoor tables, landscaping, and the student-created Bobcat Mascot mural completed in December 2006, our 4th and 5th grade classes, and "The Bobcat Plaza." The Multi-Use Room (MUR), built in 1992, is the location of student assemblies, instrumental and choral performances, annual school musicals, after-school programs, community meetings, socials, and student lunches. In spring 2005, the students participated in a visual arts beautification mural on the outside wall of the MUR. New play structures and play surfaces were installed in 2004 on the main and Kindergarten yards.