Reason & Republic is proud to share the rendering for Belton Preparatory Academy’s new building! Expected to be completed no later than the fall of 2024, this new facility will allow the Belton Prep family to triple in size and continue to provide educational excellence for the children of South Carolina.
Congratulations to Belton Preparatory Academy’s Teacher of the Year, Megan Patterson! Mrs. Patterson is passionate, creative and consistently teaches her kindergarteners to read before Christmas each year. She makes the classroom fun and engaging for her Kindergarten students. She adds music and dance to the reading curriculum. She makes learning fun through hands-on activities. “Getting up and moving with the kids is exciting! This also helps them to remember the content better when they are able to have fun,” she says.
Teaching at BPA for three years has been a great experience for Mrs. Patterson. Even though she always wanted to be a teacher, she had a very difficult first year at a different school. Her passion for helping kids felt snuffed out by external factors. After taking a break, her husband found an opening at BPA. She was cautious, but after she met some faculty at the interview, she found that her calling to teach was reignited. “I accepted the position and immediately felt the spark for teaching burst into a flame!”
Mrs. Patterson continues to be thankful for the support and team spirit that BPA faculty and staff share.“ Everyone brings so much knowledge to the table and everyone is so willing to share in order to make us better. Collaboration between peers is so important to education.”
She also loves collaborating with her students’ families. “We have had families that brought their farm animals to the school to share with us, we have had children go to museums and come back to share with us what they learned about certain artists, other families have family members that live in other states or countries that we can discuss that ties into our curriculum. We may be part of a small town, but we are connected to other parts of the world in so many ways!”
She says her main job as a teacher is to plant and tend to “seeds” that she may not see immediately. “I hope to see the fruits of my labor much later in their lives. Maybe when they stand to give an answer in a complete sentence without being reminded, or read aloud to the class without being afraid.” She hopes her students learn to ask questions, learn from each other, grow in confidence and know they can go far in life. And, she hopes each student knows that “we always have their back. Even though they may move onto another grade and eventually graduate, they will always be part of the BPA family!”
Belton Preparatory Academy is proud to announce some outstanding achievements! In a special ceremony on February 10, 2022, BPA was recognized as a Diamond School of Excellence by the Charter Institute at Erskine. The Diamond award is the highest award the institute gives. In addition to this, the school was recognized in a special resolution by the the South Carolina House of Representatives.
BPA has some shining test scores and other achievements, despite the challenges this school faces. The students scored in the top one percent in the state of South Carolina for math and top two percent in the state for English. These numbers are based on standardized tests for the 4th and 5th grade students. BPA is considered a Title I school, which means they qualify for additional federal funding based on the number of students who are considered low-income. Despite these challenges, BPA scored 6th overall in the state, out of 666 elementary schools, and first out of all Title I schools in the state!
Superintendent of the Charter Institute of Erskine, Cameron Runyan, said “Belton Preparatory Academy is an example of what can be accomplished when a school commits itself to the goal of academic excellence and refuses to waiver in that commitment even in the face of great challenges.”*
Individual students were also honored at the ceremony for their academic achievements. One beaming father said, “We are very pleased with the environment and education our daughter is getting!”
BPA is a tuition-free charter school for elementary age kids in South Carolina. The unique curriculum is called classical education, which uses the Humanities to teach history, grammar, literature, math and science. This school also has an entrepreneurship component that challenges kids to be creative, take positive risks, collaborate and recover from mistakes.
For more information about BPA, check out this page on our website.
*Quotes sourced from Belton News-Chronicle, Wednesday Feb. 16, 2022 edition, Article by Deb Tucker.
Enrollment is still open for one of South Carolina’s highest performing schools! Belton Preparatory Academy (BPA) is accepting applications for incoming K5 – 6th graders until February 1, 2022. BPA is a public charter school that employs a classical curriculum style.
Because BPA is a charter school, it is actually a public school funded by the state of South Carolina. However, the state gave the school and parent leadership the ability to choose and adjust the curriculum and school culture. BPA is still held accountable to state standards, but they are able to create a learning environment that is unique to this community.
The success of this curriculum and the BPA staff speaks for itself. Students at BPA outperformed most of the state in the 2020-2021 school year. Students at Belton Preparatory Academy tested in the top 1% in math and 2% for English/Language Arts, according to the South Carolina Department of Education Annual School and District report card.
BPA uses two nationally recognized curricula: Eureka Math and Core Knowledge Classical Curriculum. The Core Knowledge Classical Curriculum teaches children concepts in phonics, logic, literature, history, and science (STEM). The subjects build on themselves as the child progresses through each grade.
BPA also puts a premium on free market economic theory, and entrepreneurship. The academy emphasizes the development of leadership qualities and learning behaviors. These include taking positive risks, viewing errors as opportunities, recovering from mistakes, exchanging feedback, collaboration, planning with a purpose, and tracking personal progress.
If you are interested in giving your child this unique educational opportunity at Belton Preparatory Academy, click here to begin the process. Enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year will remain open until February 1, 2022. Applications received after this date will be added to the waiting list.