Mascot Clubs meet the needs of families in the Paradise Valley Unified School District by providing a safe and fun place for children to be after school and on recess days. The site manager at each school is a degreed professional with specialized training in school age child care. Other staff members may be college students pursuing their education degrees, paraprofessionals from other district programs, or other special adults who have an interest in working with children. The staff is assisted by high school students enrolled in the district's Home Economics Related Occupations program (H.E.R.O.). The staff benefits from training offered through the Maricopa Coalition for School Age Child Care and the Arizona School Age Care Alliance as well as national conferences and our own in-house training program. Mascot Clubs site managers are sought after as trainers both locally and nationally.
The safety of the children i s priority one for the entire staff. To assure the highest standards all Mascot Clubs sites are licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services as child care facilities. Each site is equipped with its own first aid kit and manual and every staff member is certified in first aid and CPR. Walkie-talkies keep the staff in constant touch with the site manager in case of an emergency.
The program of activities is rich and varied. Using the theory of multiple intelligences as a philosophical basis, activities are offered to cultivate children's talents and interests in many diverse areas. Attention is paid to games which develop sports and social skills. Students do much more than play games on the computers, they create music and art and produce their own drawings and writings using the latest in software. Science experiments help make the physical world comprehensible. Multi-cultural food, games, and crafts bring other countries closer. History comes alive as the children listen to music from earlier times or play games that their parents and grandparents played. They explore careers. Working as a group they may put on a talent show, open their own lemonade stand or publish a newspaper for their friends. Mascot Clubs are active places.
Mascot Clubs operate before and after regular school hours. Care is available from 6:30 pm. The program is reserved for school age children only. Because of the district's half-day kindergarten program, kindergartners may also take advantage of our Fifth Dimension program in order to complete the school day. For more information on this program, please call Community Education at (602) 569-4719.
On early dismissal days, Mascot Clubs open early to offer care to all children in the school community who need it. (Pre-registration is required) During school recess days, holidays and summer, we offer a full day camp experience with the same high standards exhibited during the school year. Frequently we take field trips on these occasions. In the past, Mascot campers have visited Out of Africa, the Arizona Science Center, the State Capitol, the Phoenix Zoo and Casey At The Bat. We have bowled, ice skated and roller skated. We have attended puppet shows, the circus, and spring training baseball.
Paradise Valley Unified School District cares about the welfare of its students. The Mascot Clubs program manifests this concern in a practical way that serves families.
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