The Haverhill Public Schools’ Discovery Club and Access 21 before & after school programs are made possible through federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) and state After School & Out-of-School Time (ASOST) grants that are administered by the MA Department of Education. The primary focus is to provide academic and social support as well as enrichment programs to students who are economically disadvantaged or have other risk factors. The intent is to help level the playing field for these students so that they may experience opportunities that they may not otherwise have. We try to keep a 1:10 teacher/student ratio to ensure high quality programming.
The Discovery Club (grades 1-8) Out-of-School Time (OST) program will have before and after school programming at Bradford, Golden Hill, Pentucket Lake, and Tilton Elementary Schools; and Consentino, Nettle, Tilton Upper, and Whittier Middle Schools. All of these sites offer one hour of before school care, Monday through Friday. After school, programs for these grades meet for two hours Monday through Thursday and transportation home is provided. The elementary sites also offer care on Friday after school, however transportation is not available.
Elementary and middle school programs offer about an hour of homework support followed by an enrichment program. A healthy snack is provided and transportation home is available. There are no fees to participate this year.
There are three ten-week sessions during the school year for elementary & middle school programs. Usually, enrichment programs change each session to ensure that students have a variety of experiences. At the elementary level, enrichment may include Art, Recreation, STEM, Literacy, and sometimes a more creative topic such as ‘Project Passport’, ‘Business & the Community’ and ‘Urban Planning.’ At the middle school level, students can choose the topic in which they are interested. Programs may include Robotics, Girls Circle, Cooking, Horticulture, Musical Theater, Healthy Living, and Sports & Games. These can change based on student and teacher interest.
The Access 21 (grades 9-12) Out-of-School Time (OST) program will have after school programming only at Haverhill High School. Enrichment programs offered include integrated Culinary Skills, Internship, Glee Club, Robotics Club, and Life Skills. Culinary Skills meets once a week whereas the other programs each meet twice a week. Internship is offered in two sessions. All other programs continue without interruption through the thirty-week program. Transportation home is available Tuesday through Thursday when programs are in session. The programs begin at 2:15 pm and end at 5:00 pm. Healthy snacks are also provided.
The 9 sites will serve over 600 students in grades 1 to 12. Members have the use of the school facilities including classrooms, computer labs, gymnasiums, and libraries.
Discovery Club and Access 21 will make reasonable accommodations to serve students. Members must be able to participate in a group situation, and maintain the activities of daily life
Applications for the 2022-23 school year will be available online through the Haverhill Public Schools’ website for students at the schools mentioned above during the first week of school. For more information, contact the Discovery Club/Access 21 office or through the link below: