Leduc County After School Hours Initiative
Fast forward to today, and we're excited to see that those five communities now offer a variety of after school programs, including cooking clubs, physical activity and sport programs and healthy homework programs. Demand for the initiative has grown incredibly, from minimal participation to waiting lists and close to 50 participants on a given night in some areas.
Communities pulled together to make the initiative a success. When the initiative was first launched in New Sarepta, the church pastor and librarian offered programming once a week. By spring, the local school, church and library were providing facility space and community members’ volunteered Zumba instruction, tutoring, grant writing and physical activity programming. Dedicated volunteers in each community deliver many of the programs and make the initiative such a success.
Katelynn Theal, EAS after school hours coordinator who led the initiative, has stepped back and continues to support the communities as they work toward sustaining and growing their after school programs.
Ever Active Schools' Role
Some of our roles in establishing an effective after school program in Leduc County involved:
- Surveying teachers, parents, program providers and students on current after school activities, desired activities and challenges to being active in the after school hours.
- Conducting free workshops on physical activity and healthy eating.
- Promoting current after school programming and increasing program opportunities.
- Producing materials and sharing resources to assist communities. Resources included the after school hours Calendar, Recipe Card Lesson Plans, Daily Physical Activity Bins, Move and Play Cards, which are available on our online store.
- Hosting an event with participating communities to kick off the initiative at the Leduc Recreation Centre.
- Working alongside an external evaluation team to gather information and inform the growth of the after school hours initiative.
Learn More About the Leduc County Initiative
- Download a brochure EAS used to promote the initiative
- Attend a free workshops EAS offered to participating communities
- View our Event Launch Gallery (Above)
- Download the After School Hours Initiative Year One Report August 2013
- Download the After School Hours Initiative - Year One Follow-up Report March 2014
- View the Alberta After School Success - The Story of Thorsby July 2014 Download Infographic
- Or you can contact Katelynn Theal, EAS after school hour’s coordinator.