Brandywine Elementary School, Pendleton County, West Virginia

WELCOME TO BRANDYWINE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HOME OF THE BOBCATS!
News from BES
January 17, 2008 was the end of the second nine weeks. This date also marks the middle of the school year. The research is clear that parental involvement in education is directly correlated to student achievement. Please continue to support your child during the remainder of the school year. Helping with homework and reading with your child every day are key elements of a successful school year. It is also important that students attend school every day and be prepared to participate in learning, follow school rules and contribute to the learning environment. We are committed to implement the very best practices from the research on effective schools. We want to provide a world-class education to all of our students, through effective classroom instruction, varied learning activities, and cooperative efforts that bring students, parents, and teachers together as an educational team. We want all students to develop a life-long passion for learning. — Lincoln Propst, Principal
BES Renovation & Replacement
The West Virginia School Building Authority funded $4.9 million dollars for the renovation and replacement of Brandywine Elementary School at its quarterly meeting held 26 March 2007 in Charleston. An additional $618,478 was funded at the June meeting, bringing the project total to $5,548,027. The project began this summer and will be fully completed by the fall of 2008. See Aerial View.

BES Architectural Plans:
Proposed Phasing Plans and Detailed View of Construction.

BES School of Excellence Award
Brandywine Elementary School has been selected for a 2006-07 School of Excellence Award. The Schools of Excellence are selected based on the following criteria: a rigorous and challenging curriculum, a safe and drug-free learning environment, participatory leadership, active teaching and learning, an environment that strengthens teacher skills, documented student achievement and implementing advanced and innovated programs. READ MORE

Vision and Mission
Motivate, Educate, Celebrate: Learning together for a better future. Our mission is to prepare every student to succeed and to contribute to a better world. We will strive to do this in an academically challenging, safe and nurturing environment where all students, parents, and community members are active participants.
Accelerated Reader Program
Students at Brandywine Elementary School participate in the Accelerated Reader Program. Students choose and read appropriate-level books from the library. Then they take reading practice quizzes on these books. The reading practice quizzes help teachers measure students' comprehension of books read. These quizzes also ensure a successful, positive experience if the student has read a book at the proper level. The computer keeps a record of each student and the points he or she has accumulated. Students can receive awards based on the number of accumulated points.

No Child Left Behind
Access the 2005 - 2006 Report Card for Brandywine Elementary School here. This is the latest information available from the West Virginia Department of Education. Access the NCLB FY 2006 - 2007 data for Brandywine Elementary School here. County Status: Only three counties in the state have had 100% of their schools meet AYP for the last four years: Gilmer, Pendleton and Wirt. View the statistics.

School History
On April 26, 1935, fire destroyed the two-room school building at Brandywine. Then followed a period of years during which school was held in emergency quarters. Part of the time, use was made of rooms in residences and later a temporary two-room building was erected. At last, as a result of united community effort, a WPA project was secured which provided for the construction of a modern six-room building which was dedicated on May 9, 1941 with David Kirby, Secretary of the State Board of Education making the address. When the new building was ready for occupancy, a number of schools in the surrounding area were transported to the new plant. Outlying schools that were consolidated were the two-room school at Oak Flat, and one-room schools at Propstburg, Broad Run, Dale Hill, Rough Run, Valley, and Locust Grove. The building was expanded in 1954 to house a new kitchen and storage area. Modular classrooms were constructed adjacent to the main building in 1970 and 1972 to accommodate the growing needs of the school. The Sugar Grove School was closed in 1966 and a majority of the students from there were transported to Brandywine. The United States Navy started construction of the "Big Ear" near Sugar Grove in 1958, but this was soon halted and the facilities were then developed into a communications center. Presently many students, whose parents are associated with the Navy, are enrolled in the Brandywine School. During the mid-'70s, while local resident Grey Cassell was superintendent, two more rooms were added to the existing west end of the building. They are now used as first and second grade. The year of 1985 began the building of the Special Education building behind the existing red brick school. Federal regulations in the '90s mandated that special education students could not be separated from the main body of students; consequently, when the last new addition was built in 1994 with three new rooms being added, special education was moved into one of the new rooms. Recently, the West Virginia School Building Authority has released funds for older school buildings, and Brandywine Elementary may be getting a new facility as soon as 2007-2008.