Winbourne Elementary School celebrated its accomplishments October 29 in student achievement – 11.8 points of growth in one year, which launched the school out of the state Academically Unacceptable Status (AUS) – with a parade and trick-or-treating event for students.  East Baton Rouge Parish School System Superintendent John Dilworth rode a horse as grand marshal of the school parade with the assistance of Principal Brenda Wilkinson (pictured).  Part of the event also included students going trick or treating from car trunk to car trunk in the school parking lot.

According to Wayne Talbot, the district’s director of Fine Arts, much of the improvement in academics at the school is due to the incorporation of the arts.  Every student at Winbourne has the opportunity to receive instruction in Art, Music and Physical Education. 

“However, what is so unique about the Arts at Winbourne is the integration into the content areas which are required for all students,” said school Principal Brenda Wilkinson.  “The effective teaching of the arts allow for students to create, synthesize, think critically and analyze.  Students at Winbourne are just as critical about their artwork on a vocabulary foldable as they are about their artwork which beautifully lines the corridors of the school.  They are keenly aware of lines, shapes, background and foreground images.  They learn to critique their own artwork while critiquing the work found in their textbooks, enabling them to gain better insight into skills such as author’s purpose, comparison and contrast, and overall comprehension.”

Wilkinson said the students do more than sports and exercise during Physical Education classes, too.  They also learn to waltz and foxtrot.  They keep time, noting beat and rhythm, which transfers to an enjoyment of the study of poetry in the regular classroom.  Music is not confined to the music classroom:  vocabulary words and the 50 states are set to music.  In addition, Reader’s Theatre, in which expression and emotion are encouraged, assists students in their comprehension of the printed text.  “It is a great day when students are challenged, engaged and focused,” Wilkinson said.