The Benefits of Extended-Day Care for Working Parents (and more...)
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“I’m hungry because I don’t get home until 8:30 each night.”
That’s what one Horizons student wrote on the end-of-summer 2022 survey.
Horizons already provides students with free and nutritious meals during the day, but the program ends at 3:30pm (read: not yet dinner). At that time, students are picked up and their parents or caregivers take them to their jobs, or they are shuffled around to different care situations until they can go back home.
So, how is Horizons Newark helping?
We are committed to supporting working parents with the care they need during extended-day programming when students will also receive a healthy meal or snack.
For Summer 2023, extended-day care will happen in the form of morning care, with plans to add after-care in the coming years. Students can be dropped off at the program at 7:30am where they will be provided breakfast, allowing parents and caregivers the opportunity to make it to work on time and not have to worry about feeding their children beforehand.
The ability to align program schedules with parents’ work schedules, logically, also impacts enrollment in Horizons, and therefore, access to critical academic and enrichment opportunities to beat the summer slide. In fact, a study conducted by the non-profit “Give a Summer” found this to be one of the main barriers to summer program enrollment only behind high cost (It’s a good thing Horizons Newark is free!)
Unsurprisingly, there are many other benefits to extended-day programming, including:
1) Keeping children safe outside of school hours. Children are in a secure and structured classroom environment with a caring teacher.
2) Opportunities to make new friends. Students aren’t grouped together by class so they are able to make friends outside of their day-to-day social circle.
3) Engaging in a multi-age setting. Students are cared for in a classroom of students from all different age groups and grades. This provides the opportunity for the older students to act as “mentors” for the younger students (a source of pride for many), and for the younger students to learn from the older ones (a proven Montessori method for learning).
When a student joins Horizons, their family does, too. That is why we are excited to provide extended-day programming that supports working parents and fosters the development of the whole child while also keeping them safe.
We can’t wait to see you bright and early, Horizons family!
