JUMPING BRANCH W.Va. (Hinton News) – Jumping Branch Elementary is a wonderful school located in Jumping Branch. We are a small school, but our enrollment is growing each year. We have grown from 89 students last year to 112 students this year. Jumping Branch is a PBIS school that focuses on the HEART of the Tiger character traits, which stand for honesty, encouragement, ambition, respect, and tolerance. The school has a low discipline rate due to teachers and students modeling the high expectations.
Our school also focuses on high academic standards. Last year, our students increased by 16% in Math and 6% in ELA. We were awarded the Exceed Standards performance award in ELA from the West Virginia Department of Education. All teachers at JBE are fully certified in their subject areas, with many holding multiple certifications. Our instructional aides also play an essential role in supporting student learning and are all certified as
ECCATs.
Attendance is another important goal that JBE is achieving. This year, our chronic absence rate decreased from 22% last year to as low as 7% this year. Currently, we are at 11.6%. Our community in schools’ coordinator works hard at creating attendance rewards and campaigns that encourage students to come to school.
JBE offers a wide range of enriching opportunities for our students. Our after-school program includes tutoring, physical education, homework support, and drama. Students can also participate in activities such as Book Club, Girl Scouts, Daisies, Student Council, and 4-H. In addition, our students proudly represent JBE in regional events like Math Field Day and the Social Studies Fair.
Our school has a family-based atmosphere in which parents and community members are encouraged to attend. Our PTO plays a crucial role in our school by hosting such things as Santa’s Secret Shop, the Book Fair, and our annual carnival. They also provide funding for supplies, field trips, adopt-a-child at Christmas, and any other student needs. JBE parents are fully involved and support the success of our students.
We have plenty of chaperones on field trips and well-attended programs by the families and community. Surveys from parents and social media demonstrate high satisfaction with JBE. We promote a team atmosphere between all stakeholders to ensure that our students are successful.
This year, we participated in a pilot program to keep our sixth-grade students at JBE. This was due to parents asking the board of education to allow our students to remain another year at JBE. This has been highly successful with our students. They scored among the highest in the county on their benchmark assessments.
We are very proud of JBE. We have had a successful year and are continually growing in enrollment. We are also achieving our goals of reducing chronic absenteeism, decreasing behavior problems, and increasing our academic proficiency in all subjects!
Go JBE TIGERS!
