Rumford Elementary School Promotes Student Wellness

Jill Bartash, Principal of Rumford Elementary School in RSU 10.

Rumford Elementary School makes a commitment each day to partner with families and the community to promote student wellness! A huge part of this focuses on encouraging students to attend school each day. With work from the school’s Attendance Committee, more than 95% of students are at school each day! We’ve celebrated as a whole school (bubble gum for all), as classes (pizza parties for the class with the best attendance each month), and individuals (RES t-shirts for perfect attendance). As Woody Allen says, “80% of success is just showing up!”

This year, we also began partnering with Oxford County Mental Health to provide resiliency-building strategies in our trauma-informed school. This includes leading small groups focused on self-regulation, hosting a parent group, having counseling available at school, and teaching staff strategies for responding to difficult student behaviors.

Student wellness is a goal we can only accomplish with help from families! We have been very successful in bringing families into school to read to students and to participate in literacy activities through our Family Fun Night! And the support is a two-way street! Each weekend students take home backpacks of food to help throughout the weekend. Happy, fed, and connected students are ready to do their best learning!