After School Care at the JCC Indianapolis
In the After School Care Program at the JCC Indianapolis, your child receives a well-rounded, quality experience and the best care in a fun, nurturing environment. Kids love us for our pools, gyms, woods, playground, and in the summer, the Eskenazi Water Park, complete with water slides and a lazy river.
Located in the Kraft Youth Wing of the building, we offer a safe, nurturing after-school program focused on academic, recreational, and creative activities. The program is led by full-time JCC staff who provides supervision and guidance to ensure a safe, social, quality program in a family environment.
School Age Programs at the JCC
School age programming at the JCC is home base for Camp JCC, After School Care (ASC), School’s Out Days, Nights Away at the J, and more! We help shape the minds and bodies of our youth using the entire 40-acre campus. Arts, education, sports, and games are all part of our building process.
Benefits of After-School Care at the JCC
Activities such as art projects, playing indoors and out, organized group games, mitzvahs (good deeds), and athletic activities help stimulate the social, emotional, and physical development of your child. The goals of our after-school program include all areas of development:
- Social: To help children feel comfortable, trust their environment, make friends, and feel they are part of the group.
- Emotional: To cultivate self-confidence, independence, self-control, and a positive attitude towards life.
- Physical: To help children feel confident about what their bodies can do.
- Cognitive: To encourage children to become independent learners through opportunities to complete homework assignments and provide quiet reading time as well as promote problem-solving and curiosity through special planned activities including STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math).
Our After School Care staff strives to make all children feel welcome and comfortable. Staff focuses on the individual needs of each child, their interests and talents, and encourages curiosity, creativity, and positive communication. Our staff is well-trained (and retrained each year) in the areas of child development and health and safety standards. The JCC is also a Darkness to Light Partner in Prevention committed to the time and effort necessary to be educated on how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.
Our entire facility is available for youth in our programs. We play sports and games in our gymnasiums, and all children play outdoors around the 40-acre campus to benefit from the fresh air, stimulate physical growth, and cultivate social skills. Youth also have access to our indoor pool and outdoor water park.
Our After School Care families are welcome to participate in any number of classes and sports activities that the JCC offers during after-school hours. For a nominal fee, your child may participate in activities including dance classes, soccer, basketball leagues, swimming, tennis lessons, and karate. Our staff escorts children to their enrichment activities during our programming hours. Any program or class that starts or ends at 6 pm is the parent’s responsibility to drop off or pick up. Class offerings can be found on our Youth Programs page.
While we recognize that many children in our program are not Jewish, the values we teach apply to all equally. In addition to kindness, respect, and responsibility, we focus on “tzedakah,” the Hebrew word for doing good deeds and sharing with those less fortunate. Our children participate all year long in activities to perform acts of kindness not only for their classmates and teachers but for others in the community through partnerships with other not-for-profit agencies (e.g., Gleaners Food Bank).
What to Expect
Myranda Tetzlaff
Director of Camp JCC and Youth Programs
317-715-9246
mtetzlaff@JCCindy.org
Hamilton Hensel
Assistant Director of Camp JCC and Youth Programs
317-715-9254
hhensel@JCCindy.org
Monday-Friday, 2:30 – 6 pm while school is in session.
We offer School’s Out Days for days when school is not in session during the school year, e.g., fall, winter, and spring breaks, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, etc.
When school is out for summer, we offer Camp JCC for K-7th grade. For schools with different schedules, we offer pre- and post-camp days before and after camp.
Click here to view the After School Care calendar.
School buses drop children off at the JCC between 2:30 and 3 pm. Pickup will occur between 4:30 and 6 pm.
Anyone arriving after 6 pm. will be charged a late pickup fee of $5 per minute.
For more details, download our Parent Handbook.
In order to provide a place where all children can feel safe and happy, both physically and emotionally, we take a proactive approach to bullying and have an Anti-Bullying Policy, using guidelines set forth by the American Camping Association (ACA). Bullying is when one or more person excludes, teases, taunts, gossips, hits, kicks, or puts down another person with the intent to hurt that person. Our staff is trained to prevent bullying and raise awareness by using different techniques and tools to help avoid such behavior.
The JCC is committed to programs that are inclusive. A child’s special needs should be communicated and included with your enrollment documentation. ASC may request a meeting with parents prior to the child’s start date and/or ask parents to observe our program in advance to determine if it is a good fit for their family. If your child has a Behavior Intervention Plan, a meeting with the program director to go over the plan will be required prior to the child’s first day of attendance at ASC. This plan must be submitted along with your child’s ASC Registration and Health & Medical forms.
The JCC provides youth with a healthy snack daily. Because of our commitment to creating an environment of inclusiveness so that children coming from kosher homes will be able to partake in snacks with classmates, all our food is kosher.
For details about all the J’s policies for its after-school program, e.g., data privacy and confidentiality, behavior and discipline, cell phone policy, personal items, child abuse reporting, etc. download our Parent Handbook.
Enrollment
Participation in our After-School Care program is reserved for JCC members only. A child’s immediate family must maintain an active JCC family or single-parent membership in good standing throughout the entire time the child is in our program. View our Membership page for more information.
The JCC offers need-based scholarships and financial aid to enable qualified individuals and families to take advantage of JCC membership and some youth-based programs, including ASC.
Because After School Care follows Washington Township Schools’ hours and calendar and for student safety in transit, children attending ASC MUST be enrolled in a Washington Township School that transports to the JCC.
We offer part-time after-school care and full-time after-school care options to Washington Township Schools students (our program follows Washington Township hours and calendar, and Washington Township transports students to the JCC) based on your family’s needs.
- 5 Plus. Children enrolled in 5 Plus programming attend the After-School Care program five days per week and are prepaid for any planned School’s Out Days, unscheduled school closures, and most school in-service/conference days. $387 per month
- Monthly Pricing Without Extra School’s Out Days
- 5 days a week (Full-time) $305/month
- 3 days a week (Part-time) $241/month
- 1 day a week (Single day) $133/month
The following forms must be completed prior to your child’s participation in the J’s after-school care program:
Return completed forms to the Director of Camp JCC and Youth (cannot be accepted at the Welcome Desk). Acceptance into the program is determined by school and current enrollment and is up to the Director’s discretion.
Transportation
- Greenbriar
- Spring Mill
- Fox Hill
- Crooked Creek
- Nora
- Willow Lake
We offer After School Care with transportation via the following Washington Township schools that provide transportation to the JCC at no charge. Note: You must notify your school of drop-off at JCC.