New afterschool programme on the way S4 TEACHER Jennifer Pettit will see a long-held dream become reality this fall when she launches a new afterschool programme for Upper Primary students. “I want to be the ‘Director of Fun’!” jokes Pettit, a Chesapeake Bay, MD, native who has spent the past decade at Saltus teaching a variety of Primary grades and running Upper Primary’s Spelling Bee for half that time. Her new programme will bring in-house and completely overhaul afterschool activities for Years 3 to 6. For the past several years, the afterschool system has been held on School property, but run by an external company. “The time had come to create a brand new programme and make it an asset for the School,” says Pettit, who seized the opportunity to propose an idea she had toyed with since a teenager. “When I was in college, I worked a couple of summers at a community centre on a US Department of Defense Navy base in Maryland—and absolutely loved it,” she says. “I got a budget, I ran programmes, I did a lot for kids in the area. I remember making haunted houses, going to playgrounds and blowing bubbles. To me, it was the ideal job, and I was just 19. I thought, one day, that’s what I’m going to do—run a community centre with lots going on. So, I’m kind of coming back to that now.” The programme, which will incorporate flexible days of afterschool care and be billed through Saltus, will kick off with a goal of 60 participants—split among Years 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, incorporating more children if demand is high. Pettit, who will hire three staff, will also run holiday camps for Saltus students using School facilities. “The emphasis will be on safety and fun—I want there to be a waiting list for both the afterschool programme and the camps,” she says. “I’d like the children to be saying, ‘We want to go and do that!’” Pettit envisions the afterschool programme, to run to 5:30 pm, as providing a secure, familiar place where students can enjoy a snack before working on homework and taking part in indoor and outdoor activities and projects—some of which will be extensions of School curricula that teachers can’t normally get to during classtime. “The programme will have the same Saltus standards, the same Saltus discipline, so everyone knows what to expect.” Among her favourite ideas for fun activities are for children to take part in community outreach projects— creating a School float for the annual May 24 Heritage Parade, for example—and listening to invited guest speakers. She will distribute signup and informational flyers on PEN and by mail and will also poll Saltus parents to find out what they would like to see. “I want to make sure I incorporate their needs,” she says. And while she’ll miss her S4 teaching routine, Pettit will keep her current classroom for the programme, using it as the pickup headquarters. She also plans to use facilities such as the Upper Primary art room and ICT lab. “I’m ready for new challenges,” she says. “I think we have a great School, and new programmes like this one will only enhance it.” “Director of Fun” Jennifer Pettit CHARLES ANDERSON S A LT U S M A G A Z I N E 27