Extended learning and enrichment hours at school

Increasing academic readiness and child safety

In south Tel Aviv and Yafo, elementary schools have low socio-economic rankings, reflecting, in part, a student population characterized by low socio-economic status and low cultural capital. Often, the parents of these children are in low-skilled jobs requiring long hours; consequently they are not able to be present for their children until later in the evening, several hours after school usually finishes. For financial reasons, many of these families do not utilize the afternoon care programs or activities which are available elsewhere in the city. Many children therefore go home alone and unsupervised.

The Extended School Day program is designed to:

• Support and enrich students educationally and socially;
• Support working parents;
• Improve the quality of education students receive in the afternoon hours; and
• Provide a hot and nutritious meal for a student population which, due to their difficult home environments, often come to school without eating breakfast.

The Extended School Day program is in its third year of operation and currently runs in 23 elementary schools in south Tel Aviv and Yafo. It extends school hours for children in grades 1-3 until 4.00pm instead of the standard 1.00pm or 2.00pm.

The program strengthens the foundations for future academic success and improves access to opportunity through additional tutoring in the core subjects of language, math, English and science lessons as well as extra-curricular areas like music, robotics, art, sports, dance, and coding.

To support one school’s participation in the Extended School Day program for one year, the requested donation is $165,000. There are 23 schools participating in the program.