Licensed by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). Online enrollment for the 2023 Outback Program will begin February 15th at 8pm.

Tuition Rates and Policies

Financial Aid

Outback is a high-quality summer experience for families who value creativity, culture, and community. We specialize in building community through creative explorations and strive to strike the perfect balance of structure and freedom for a safe yet fun summer. Outback is for rising Junior Kindergarteners (must have turned 4 on or before March 31st) through rising 6th graders. Families register by session (regular day from 8:30am-3:00pm) and may add an extended day option (3-5:45pm) for an additional fee. 

Our Staff is led by a strong leadership team with expertise in child development, health and safety, curriculum development, family communication, and supporting positive social-emotional growth in children. The teaching team is a dynamic and diverse group of artists, dancers, athletes, musicians, and childcare specialists with skills in everything from printmaking to soccer, committed to building relationships with children, leading a range of engaging activities, and providing an overall fun, welcoming, supportive environment that allows children to explore their interests, make friends, learn new things, and have a great summer experience. All staff are CPR/First Aid certified and participate in a rigorous orientation. The teaching staff is supported by high school Mayor’s Youth students, and middle school Counselors in Training.

Curriculum/Activities Outback curriculum is tailored to the interests of the children in the program and provides plenty of opportunities for children to choose their own activities, flex their creativity, and spend time with peers. We offer several activity periods each day called “choices” and children get to choose their activities. Typical choice offerings include a mix of structured activities such as sports and games, ceramics, visual arts, performance arts, and the more care-free summer activities like playing in the sandbox, running through the sprinkler, reading, crafts, and more!

Our Space Outback’s primary location is the spacious, wood-chipped, tree-shaded backyard at 20 Sacramento Street that has a large sandbox, basketball court and blacktop area, play structure, bocce ball court, and stage/deck area. We use large event style tents to help create outdoor classroom spaces and spend a significant amount of time outdoors, weather permitting. We use the 4 air-conditioned studios in Maud Morgan Arts Center (located in our backyard), including the fully equipped ceramics and printmaking studios, and classroom spaces in our main building at 20 Sacramento. We use the gym, cafeteria, and community room at the Baldwin School just a few doors down. And of course we make use of our community garden plot just across the street, the “Y-Field,” also across the street, and the playground across from the Baldwin School. We like to spread out and have plenty of options for children! 

Program Structure and COVID19 Protocols While there are times when all ages are together, the JK and Kindergarteners do most of their activities separately from the 1-6th graders. 1-6th graders are often split into two groups based on age for activities, but there are many opportunities, including recess, to play together as well.

Outback is committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for children. This will be our fourth summer running Outback during the pandemic, so we have developed a lot of plans to make the program as safe as possible. We spend a significant amount of time outdoors, and we have high-quality HEPA air purifiers in all of our indoor classrooms. Children and staff are permitted, but not required, to wear masks. Please keep children home if they test positive or exhibit any symptoms. We strongly urge all families to vaccinate children who are eligible.

Session Dates

Week 1 – July 3rd-7th (closed July 4th)
Week 2- July 10th-14th – Beach Trip Week
Week 3 – July 17th-21st
Week 4 – July 24th-28th – Beach Trip Week
Week 5 – July 31st-August 4th
Week 6 – August 7th-11th – Beach Trip Week
Week 7 – August 14th-18th – Beach Trip Week
Week 8 – August 21st-25th (reduced capacity)*

*Our program will unfortunately not have access to the Baldwin school during the week of August 21st, and we will be enrolling at a reduced capacity for this week only.

Field Trips and Special Events Thank you to everyone who took our survey and provided their input! From the survey results, we see a strong desire for beach and field trips. However, we also recognize that there are some members of the community who don’t enjoy these activities, so we are planning a balance of beach and non-beach weeks throughout the summer.

Due to so many uncertainties with COVID, staffing, and bus availability, the schedule is subject to change, but at this time we are planning beach trips weeks 2, 4, 6 and 7. There will be no beach trips weeks 1, 3, 5 and 8 no matter what. There will also be a mix of other field trips and on site special events throughout the summer, and we are exploring local swimming options and hope to have this return as a piece of our Outback offerings this summer.

Outback beach trips are highly organized to ensure safety and fun for everyone, and were a favorite part of Outback for many over the years! These trips are staffed by our teachers, CITs, Mayor’s Youth and Site Directors, and in the past we’ve also had parents volunteer as chaperones. We have also either hired someone with or sponsored one of our teachers to obtain lifeguard certification. Outbackers are closely supervised in the water and on the sand. We create clear barriers of cones and rope and even human barriers in the water, to make sure all students stay within eyesight of an adult.

Questions? Contact us:
Registration
617.349.6287 x19
registration@agassiz.org