COMMUNITY SERVICES
 Peninsula Partnership:
 Belle Haven Community School Project

In a project managed by Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth and Families, the City of Menlo Park and the Ravenswood City School District have embarked on an exciting new project at Belle Haven Elementary School.

With generous funding from the David D. Bohannon Foundation, United Way of the Bay Area, the Stuart Foundation, and San Mateo County Human Services Agency, the partners have engaged in a multi-year effort to create one of this region’s first “full-service” or “community” schools at east Menlo Park’s Belle Haven Elementary School. Community schools combine high-quality classroom instruction with a wide range of support services and enrichment activities, while building strong, parental-community participation in children’s learning and development. In 2005, the Belle Haven Community School Project was established and charged with the task of developing a comprehensive implementation plan for change. This plan was integrated into the Belle Haven Single School Plan for Student Achievement, which was presented to the Ravenswood City School District Board of Trustees for their approval in April 2006. In addition, Menlo Park’s City Council authorized the City to provide hiring and fiscal services for the Belle Haven Community School Project.

Highlights of the services provided on campus include:

A family center with a special parents’ room and support services for families

An after school program managed by the Boys and Girls Club

Better integration of services and communication between service providers on campus

Improved teaching quality and teacher retention thanks to the work of the New Teacher Center

And much more…

For more information about this ongoing project, please contact Alejandro Vilches, Community School Director, at 650.330.2274 or arvilches@menlopark.org

Kickoff to Kindergarten
This four-week summer program, managed this year by the non-profit “Family Connections”, helps incoming kindergarten students in the Belle Haven neighborhood make the transition from the protective world of preschool or home to the less sheltered world of kindergarten, where higher levels of social and academic behavior are expected. Its small class sizes allow children and teachers to focus on school readiness activities. Preference is given to children who have not had preschool experience and/or are English language learners. Children must live in Belle Haven or East Palo Alto to qualify for this program.

Please contact Ruth Pinkus-Resnik, Education Coordinator, at 650.685.6240 with questions.

Fee: none

M-F, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 7/2-7/27, Belle Haven Community School

Community Summer School
This academic enrichment program serves children in the Belle Haven neighborhood, who are entering grades 1-5, for six weeks during the summer. The program combines hands-on reading, writing, science, math and music classes for educational development and adds dance and gymnastics classes for physical development. A field trip and special projects are also included in the program. This program is intended for children living in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park.

For questions, please call Belle Haven Community School at 329-2898.

M-F, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 6/25-8/3, Belle Haven Community School