Blue Ridge Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by challenging our students and meeting their individual needs. Our school’s mission is to provide a safe and respectful environment where children and learning come first. We support this mission by giving students the opportunity to learn how to communicate effectively, solve problems competently, think critically and creatively, and act responsibly.
Being committed to sustain academic gains is important. Therefore, the teachers at Blue Ridge Elementary continue to learn about effective strategies to use in the classroom to promote critical thinking and collaboration such as: John Collins Thinking and Writing Program, balanced literacy, STEM, EnVision Mathematics, workstations, and small group guided reading and math instruction. To extend our higher performing students, math and reading instruction for our gifted and talented population in grades 3, 4, and 5 was provided by gifted and talented endorsed teachers. The following programs are used for reading and math intervention: EnVision RTI Program, LLI, Reading Recovery, and Early Reading Intervention. At Blue Ridge we also operate a morning computer lab and implement Moby Max and RAZ Kids math and/or reading programs during the school day for further remediation and development of skills. Fountas and Pinnell benchmark reading assessments are used to assess each student’s reading level. Finally, as we grow our 1:1 classroom technology, our teachers continue to learn how to effectively implement instructional technology.
At Blue Ridge Elementary we have also implemented non-academic programs that emphasize effective communication skills, creativity, and responsibility. Students in grades 2-5 have the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities/groups either during the school day or after school. These activities/groups include: Chinese, Drama Club, BRE News Team, Library Lions, Recycling Team, Chorus, Art Club, and Ridge Runners. Our PreK and Kindergarten students and their parents participated in our Raising Readers Book Club where effective reading strategies were modeled and the students received books to begin building their home library. School-wide we focused on implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) as well as our new Housing System. These programs reward students for exhibiting positive behaviors and promote teamwork.
Not only it is important to meet our students’ academic and social needs, but it is crucial to meet their personal needs as well. Therefore, we continue to offer Breakfast in the Classroom at Blue Ridge to feed students a free healthy breakfast each day. Select students also participated in the Education Foundation of Oconee County’s Backpack Program and received weekend food support. Our guidance counselors implemented the Chick-fil-A Core Essentials Character Education program, coordinated our annual Career Day, and assisted administration with establishing our partnership with Upstate Mentor. Through the SC Dogs Therapy Group, students who struggle with reading were given the opportunity to read to therapy dogs. Our SIC helped bring our families and community into the school by sponsoring our Fall Festival, Family Movie Night, Pancake Breakfast Event and Math/Science Family Night. Our school was also awarded the “Safe Kids Safe School Award” through Safe-Kids Upstate and was recognized as a Beta Club School of Merit.
At Blue Ridge we believe that if you have the desire to be the BEST, you also have the power to make it happen. Therefore, it takes the school, family, and community working together to help our students succeed. Thank you for your commitment to making Blue Ridge Elementary School the BEST!
Mrs. Margaret Campbell, School Improvement Council Chair
Mrs. Lisa Simmons, Principal