What We Do
BASEC brings together after school programs to develop creative, resilient, resourceful and responsible youth. We also offer workshops, vacation camps, and provide resources to parents and educators about out-of-school time learning.
By empowering students to meet academic expectations, providing enrichment opportunities for students to explore interests, and meeting the needs of each individual child, we form a community where children come to learn, play and grow.
Our Values
Academics
- Executive Function Coaching
- Homework Support
- Social-Emotional Learning
- 21st Century Skills: communication, creative problem solving, collaboration, grit, leadership, flexibility, inquiry and mindful awareness
Enrichment
- Diverse Activities
- Trained Teachers with Wide-Ranging Expertise
- Flexible Schedule Based on Student Choice
Community
- Community Service and Citizenship
- Conflict Resolution
- Multi-age Activities with Mentoring of Youngest Students
- Bridge between School and Home
Our Mission
The future prosperity of our community depends on our ability to foster the health and well-being of the next generation. When we invest wisely in our children, we lay a solid foundation that will enable them to become productive workers and contributing citizens.
New discoveries in neuroscience show what establishes that strong foundation. We know, for example, that children develop in an environment of relationships that affects all aspects of their development – social, emotional, cognitive and physical. Healthy development depends on the quality and reliability of a child’s relationships with adults and of course with peers. The support and interaction of trusted adults literally shapes a child’s brain circuits and can affect academic performance and interpersonal skills – both now and later in life.
The Belmont After School Enrichment Collaborative (BASEC) provides high-quality out-of-school time programming for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Our mission is to cultivate a community in which young people engage in enriching opportunities to nurture their physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. We are guided by the vision of creative, resilient, resourceful, and responsible young citizens.
We believe that out-of-school time programming provides unique opportunities for authentic learning experiences. Our programming:
- Provides a consistent schedule with a predictable structure so that students clearly understand expectations. We combine important mandatory responsibilities, such as group meetings and homework, with experiential learning in areas such as theater or sports. We believe in the whole-child approach to programming. Best practices and developmental research help us to implement a daily schedule that balances physical fitness, the arts, experiential learning and academics.
- Allows students to develop deep understanding through ongoing thematic programming such as Being Present, which develops values of mindfulness and self-awareness; or our Olympics, which fosters teamwork and sportsmanship through competitions in multi-age teams in events testing athletics, engineering, arts and more.
- Offers supervised, age-appropriate activities intentionally designed to enhance students’ social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. Our program sites are individual cultures of learning, where students build meaningful relationships with peers, older and younger students and educators.
BASEC’s core philosophy, which informs everything we do, is that children come first. We also believe that we can truly serve the children in our programs well only if we are mindful of the circumstances of their lives outside of school, so we strive to recognize and consider the circumstances of our students’ families and caregivers.
Further, we are committed to inclusiveness, and to balancing the needs of the individual with the well-being of the group as a whole. We respect each child’s unique needs and interests and background and capabilities, and we are committed to the principle that all children have something to contribute to their community. BASEC understands the varied requirements of children of different ages and stages of development, and we embrace that diversity as the foundation for each program’s curriculum.
Interested in Learning More About BASEC?
BASEC is a family governed, non-profit collaborative. Family participation on all levels is expected and encouraged. If you’re interested in serving on the BASEC Board or getting involved at your BASEC Site, please contact us.
Other after school programs interested in learning more about BASEC can contact our executive director or the BASEC Board.