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After School Program

Contact: 

Michael Birnbaum, Director of After School Programs
Phone:  (215) 735-0803
E-Mail:  

Variety – The Children’s Charity provides a safe environment for students with disabilities to engage in educational, recreational, therapeutic, cultural, and social activities during the after school hours. Variety works collaboratively with a wide range of community based programs within the Greater Philadelphia region to expose children to and create interests in various topics and activities.

Variety’s After School Programs support parents and families by offering educational workshops, a Community Advisory Board, and a referral service connecting families to social service opportunities in the Greater Philadelphia Region.

Purpose

After school programs can play a key role in engaging youth in the learning process by providing opportunities to explore interests, gain competency in real work skills, solve problems, assume leadership roles, develop a group identity with similar aged peers, connect to adult role models and mentors, and become involved in improving their communities.

In addition to keeping youth safe while families are working, these programs help school age children build emotional, social, and academic skills, and can include extra learning activities, homework assignments, employment of job skills training, and structured cultural and sports activities. Studies of effective after school programs show that they can contribute to many positive outcomes, including: fewer crimes and incidents of vandalism, improved academic performance, and decreased drug use among children and youth.

Goals

• To provide a safe, stable, and supportive environment for students and their families
• To provide an after school program that offers a wide range of educational and recreational activities and exposes children to activities that they have not had the opportunity to experience
• Students will meet or exceed appropriate state and local academic achievement standards in reading and math (based on criterion found in each student’s IEP)
• Students will demonstrate educational and social benefits and exhibit positive behavioral changes
• Students participating in the program will show improvement in the following performance measures: school attendance, classroom performance, and reduced disciplinary referrals.

Features:

Variety offers several After School Programs in locations through the Greater Philadelphia Region for children with disabilities. These programs feature:

• Educational, recreational, therapeutic, cultural, and social activities, such as: homework assistance, academic enrichment, tutoring, reading/literacy, sports, art, community service, leadership development, job training, social skills, and cultural enrichment.
• High staff to student ratios.

 

Locations for After School Programs

• Bok Technical High School
  8th and Mifflin Streets
  Philadelphia, PA 19148
• Widener Memorial School
  1450 West Olney Ave.
  Philadelphia, PA 19141
• Carousel House
  Belmont Ave. & North Concourse Pike
  West Fairmount Park
  Philadelphia, PA 19131
• Furness High School
  1900 South 3rd Street
  Philadelphia, PA 19148
• George Washington High School
  10175 Bustleton Ave.
  Philadelphia, PA 19116
• Lincoln High School
  3201 Ryan Ave.
  Philadelphia, PA 19136
• Olney High School
  Front and Duncannon Streets
  Philadelphia, PA 19120
• Visitation BVM School
  300 E Lehigh Avenue
  Philadelphia, PA 19125
• The John G. Leach School
  Landers Lane
  New Castle, DE 19720

Opening Spring 2008

• University City High School
  3601 Filbert Street
  Philadelphia, PA 19104
• The Brennen School / Delaware Autism Program
  144 Brennen Drive
  Newark, DE 19713
  

 

Please note, the summer after school program locations will be:

• Bok Technical High School (South Philadelphia)
• Pegasus Riding Academy (Northeast Philadelphia)

 

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