By Clint Whitfield, Principal, Breakfast Point Academy
“100 Percent, 100 Percent of the time!” This is our creed for the 2023-2024 school year for our administrative team, our teachers, and our students. It may not sound like much, but if you think about it, why can we not always give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time? What are we missing out on if we do not at least strive for that? This is a message that we are dedicated to every day! Our students hear it, our teachers hear it, and we as Stingrays live it! Although we are one school as a K-8, I will highlight our elementary school in this section.
Breakfast Point has the honor of working with, engaging and educating students from all beach schools in need of the specialized skills our autism cluster program provides. Currently, we have five classes in elementary school, and we are proud to teach and learn alongside this group of students. We have highly skilled and specialized teachers and paraprofessionals who work daily on thinking outside the box to help these unique students thrive. We provide an inclusive environment for them to grow while still immersing them in all of our school functions. In addition, we are proud to have the only sensory room at a public school in Bay County. This provides an opportunity for our students to engage in activities that are unique to them as well as allowing kinesthetic learning opportunities.
This year, we are excited to welcome back our music program after a three-year hiatus.
Although we hated to see our STEM program go, we welcome the fine arts back into our elementary school. We are looking forward to our annual music programs coming back, as well as our 5th-grade choir participating in the annual choral festival. We were able to secure a young, energetic music teacher, and we cannot wait for the amazing performances that are forthcoming!
We also have much to celebrate reflecting on last year, including some of our proficiency scores in state testing. We saw amazing growth among our students, and our 5th-grade Science scores were the highest among ANY school in Bay County. It was a new test for all of our elementary students, but the teachers and students worked hard in the classroom, and the data showed!
BPA is also a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) school where we celebrate the positive behaviors of our students each month through celebrations. Our school expectations revolve around our RAYS pledge, which is that Rays are Responsible, Accountable, Young Leaders, Showing Respect. This message is repeated every day, and it is posted everywhere throughout the school as we strive to promote these values within our students to help them succeed academically, socially, and behaviorally!
Our community partners have been so helpful with providing incentives for student learning as well as some of the needs of our students. We cherish our community because we serve our community.
We are looking forward to another great school year and all of the successes that come with it! #RaysRise