Sheffield Afterschool Program Wins Recognition & Funding

We are excited to announce that Sheffield Elementary School’s popular afterschool program recently received a competitive federal grant award of $119,000 through the Collaborative for Educational Services to fund the program for an additional three years.  The grant is called a Massachusetts 21st Century Community Learning Centers Exemplary Programs Grant.  The grant supports afterschool programs with a record of providing creative and engaging academic enrichment opportunities and serving as model programs for the state.  

Last year Sheffield’s program served 77 students during the school year and another 38 this past summer.  The school year program runs five days a week from 3:15-5:30 pm and has offered a rich array of experiences including Spanish language and culture, cooking, yoga, mindfulness, mixed media art, bilingual art exploration, Crochet Monsters, makerspace, Team GROW, Build Our Kids Success (BOKS) - a core fitness program, sports of the season, a healthy eating club, a debate club, and a Leaders club.  In addition, time is provided for academic support through traditional and technology based platforms such as iReady, Lexia, and Code.org. If that were not enough, the program is entering its second year of collaborating with Musica Franklin to offer lessons in the playing of stringed instruments and drums four days a week.

According to program director Christine Bates, receiving this Exemplary Grant will allow us to develop deeper relationships with community organizations that support our students as part of their mission.  Christine says the goal is to offer high quality enrichment at little to no cost to families. And she and her staff sure are hitting the mark. So hats off to them and to our partners at CES, led by Chris Taggart, who have provided programmatic and strategic support in setting up the program and obtaining this grant.  It is making a real difference in our learning community.

~ Michael Sullivan, Superintendent