We currently serve Arundel, Brittan Acres, Heather and White Oaks elementary schools in San Carlos and Central elementary school in Belmont. Any child attending one of the schools we serve is eligible to attend After School, space permitting.
TK & Kindergarten Program: We begin accepting newcomers onto an interest list for the TK & Kindergarten Program on August 1st one year prior to your child’s start of Kindergarten or Transitional Kindergarten.
To be placed on our waiting list, click on your preferred site below, or you may choose to contact one of our sites directly and speak to a Site Manager.
When kindergarten registration is complete at each of the sites, Site Managers will contact those on the waiting list to confirm their registration.
Your child’s registration in After School is not complete until the registration packet and registration fee have been completed and returned to a Site Manager. Payment for the month of September is due in late August, prior to the beginning of the academic year.
Afternoon Program: Because we are limited in size, we maintain a waiting list at most locations year round. To determine if your site is currently wait listed, please contact us. You may be added to our waitlist at any time by filling out an interest list form. Click here to fill out an interest list form.
Kindergarten: Yes, you may sign up for the morning-only portion of the TK & Kindergarten Program for children who are in the Late Bird (9:30ish start).
Breakfast Club: Yes, you may sign up for Breakfast Club without participating in the afternoon program. You may also combine Breakfast Club and Late Bird Kindergarten for care from 7:30 AM until the start of the school day. Please consult our fee schedule for more details.
Afternoon Program: We offer 3 or 5 day enrollments (no drop-in care). We do this because we feel it is important to know the children we serve well, and a stable population allows us to know the families and kids much better.
Breakfast Club: We DO accept drop-ins for current participants and 2,3, or 4 day/week enrollments for Breakfast Club. Rates are cheaper per day the more days you attend, but less than 5 days or drop-ins are accepted for this portion of the program.
Holidays, Vacations, and Kamparama: We DO accept 3, 4 or 5 day sign-ups for holidays, vacations and Kamparama. We DO NOT, however, accept drop-ins for these programs. Advance registration is available at the sites or online. Due to staffing, field trips, busing and other issues, advance registration is required.
Our holiday programs are open to all children who meet the age requirements of 4.5 – 11 years. Children do not have to be enrolled in After School during the academic year to attend the holiday programs.
Children who are enrolled in After School’s academic year programs have a discounted rate on the holiday programs as they have already paid part of the fee for the month. Current participants may defer their payment for the program until the month it occurs. Those not currently enrolled in our academic year programs pay the full amount for the weekly programs. Non-participants must print out and complete the registration form and return it to us with their payment to register for the program.
If you are interested in enrolling your child in one of our holiday programs, please visit that section of our website. Registration opens one month before the program takes place.
For more information about how to sign up for Kamparama, visit the Kamparama website.
We are closed on the following holidays:
- January 30, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
- October 14 Local holiday
- Martin Luther King Day
- Presidents’ Day
- Memorial Day
- July 4th
- Labor Day
- Veteran’s Day
- Thanksgiving Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
- Christmas Eve and Day
After School employs trained professionals who are certified in Early Childhood Education and are fully licensed by the State of California, Department of Social Services.
All of our full time staff has additional training in Pediatric CPR and First Aid, Disaster Preparedness and Infectious Disease Control. In addition, they are all involved in ongoing training in the supervision of children and working together to provide a safe, fun environment for children.
We are very proud of our staff, many of whom have been with us for over 10 years. We believe the love, energy, and commitment they bring to what they do every day is why After School is so beloved by the community.
While the State of California allows a ratio of 1:14 (staff to child), we strive to maintain a ratio closer to 1:10. We strongly believe in knowing the children and families we serve and find that a smaller ratio makes a profound difference.
Parents, we understand that things happen. We also, however, all have families and people waiting for us to get home at night to continue our personal lives. Therefore, we strive very hard to maintain a balance between understanding exceptions and maintaining a set closing time.
In the event that something occurs and you are going to be late picking up, we ask that you call us as soon as you are aware of the problem. The staff will then attempt to contact one of your alternative pick-up names to see if they can pick up. If no one on your pick up list can be contacted, the staff will wait with your child until you arrive.
If no one can be reached and the staff members stay with your child, we have a late charge of $1 per minute per child from 6:00-6:05pm and $2 per minute thereafter. In extreme situations, of course, the staff member may waive this fee. The fee will be charged to your account and should be paid immediately.
Consistent lateness in picking up your child will result in a series of warning letters, concluding in termination from the program if the problem continues. In our decades of experience, we have rarely had to release anyone from the program because of this issue, but we do take our jobs seriously and ask that you respect our staff and their personal lives by picking up your child in a timely manner.
Our Site Managers account for each child immediately after school dismissal each day. Therefore, it is imperative that they have information from you in advance when your child is not going to attend on any given day.
There are several ways to let us know your child is not attending:
- Call us. All phone numbers are located in the footer below. There is an answering machine available to take your message 24 hours a day.
- Email us. All email addresses are located in the footer below. If you choose to email us, we ask that you do so prior to the time of school dismissal each day. The cutoff is 12 PM for TK & kindergarteners, and 2 PM for the older children. While we check emails throughout the day, it is very busy at school dismissal and a hard time for staff to have to go back to the computer to check for an email from a parent.
If you do not notify us that your child is not attending After School on any given day and your child does not come to our classroom, the staff will contact the teacher and school office to determine if your child left school early. In the event that your child has not left school early, you will be contacted. If we cannot contact you, the staff will go down your list of emergency contacts in an attempt to reach someone with knowledge of your child’s whereabouts. If for some reason we cannot reach you or anyone on your contact list and verify your child’s location, we will contact the police.
Because we hold the safety of your child as our utmost imperative, we are strict about parents notifying us in the event of your child’s absence. We do have a policy in place that includes fees for failing to notify us and, in extreme cases of repeated offenses, removal from the program. We know you take your child’s safety seriously and ask that you work with us to make sure that we are up to date on a daily basis of any change in schedules.
In the unlikely event that your child is hurt and needs medical attention, we immediately call you to come pick your child up. Therefore, we require every parent to update all contact information at least once per year to ensure we have accurate information.
If your child needs medical attention from a physician immediately, we will call 911 first then call you.
If your child becomes ill while in our care, we will call you to pick up your child and make him or her as comfortable as possible until you arrive. If your child is sick with potentially contagious symptoms, we require you to pick up immediately. We will also notify the school office. Your child must be fever free for 24 hours before coming back to After School.
If your child needs us to administer medication, you will need to fill out our medication release form and bring the medication to us directly. Do NOT send medication in a backpack to school, as it is unsafe for other children who may have access to it.
When you register for After School, you complete a registration form that includes a list of any food or other allergies that your child might have. We ask that you renew this form every year to keep us up-to-date on any changes in your child’s life. That way, we are aware of allergy issues and maintain a roster of children with food and other allergies at all times.
All that being said, we do ask that you talk to us in advance about your child’s allergies and what the appropriate actions on our part need to be to help keep him/her safe. We provide secure storage for epi pens, if that is an issue.
Because peanuts are a growing serious issue, we do our best to maintain a “peanut free zone” in our classrooms but cannot guarantee what another child may have brought to school in his or her lunch. We do not serve peanuts or peanut butter at any of our programs. If a food item that we are serving may contain peanut oil or be from a plant where peanuts are processed, we provide a separate table for those children with allergy issues. We also wipe down the tables prior to and post snack to do everything we can to eliminate any traces of peanuts.
All of our staff are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. All full-time employees are trained in first aid and CPR and are aware of children in their care with serious food allergies. If your child has an allergy, either to food, insects, or something else, please inform your Site Manager upon enrollment and keep us informed with any changes or updates in protocol. Your child’s safety is our utmost concern and we will do everything within our power to work with you to make sure that he or she remains safe at all times.