Outreach & Special Programs

Extending Opportunities

Children and Adults with Special Needs
Children and Adults with special learning, develpmental needs or physical disability are welcome to participate in most programs - as circumstances permit. In particular, the School's Music Together program is ideally suited to accomodating young children with developmental delays as the program is designed to allow each child to respond to activities at they are able and ready. Placement in other school programs is determined on an individual basis. Parents or caretakers of children with special needs should call the Director to discuss placement.

Reaching those In Need through Outreach Program Partners - Current or Over the Years:

• Auburn Youth & Family Services (10 year program partner - Toddler Classes; Arts After School)
• Guild of St. Agnes Daycare & Pre-School (Grove Street and Granite Street, Worcester) - Pakachoag returns starting in the Fall of 2011 to refresh our prior outreach music and movement program for inner city pre-schoolers.
• Elm Park Center for Early Childhood Development (Worcester)
• Southern Worcester County Collaborative
• Seven Hills Foundation - Adult Day Health, sites in Worcester, Auburn, West Boylston and Dover.
• The Worcester Senior Center
• Martin Luther King Center for Early Childhood Development, Worcester
• Notre Dame Long Term Care, Worcester - Intergenerational Music & Movement; Student and Faculty Recital Visits
• Worcester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists - workshops or concerts designed collaboratively
• Afternoon Tunes/Fab Fridays - All Saints Church, Worcester

About Afternoon Tunes:

The Afternoon Tunes teachers are comprised of Pakachoag student musicians, including advanced high school and college-aged school alums, and other area high school students who come via recommendation of their music teachers. All work as volunteers under the guidance of a professional mentor, a Pakachoag faculty member. The goal of Afternoon Tunes is to have a long-lasting impact on the lives of Worcester children through music education, providing children with skills that lead to a deeper appreciation of music and which complement future success in school and the workplace.

Did you know? The RAND study "Gifts of the Muse" – commissioned by The Wallace Foundation – "concludes that giving individuals repeated rewarding experiences with the arts over time is a necessary first step before other, more public benefits of the arts can be realized. These other benefits include exposure to new perspectives, sharpened learning skills among young people, expanded capacity for empathy, and stronger social bonds in communities".

Why Outreach at Pakachoag is an integral part of the School's mission

Outreach programs, often grant funded, contribute to the school's ability to reach persons and families of all ages and backgrounds. The rewards that accompany arts-based experiences are numerous and sometimes profound. Nationally based research demonstrates:

• The enjoyment experienced by young and old alike when engaging in arts activities leads to improved health and well-being.
• Lessons learned through the arts provide young children new and appropriate outlets for self-expression.
• Pre-schoolers enter school with skills that transfer to success in areas outside the arts.
• Young adults learn skills needed for success in the workplace, and will often establish connections through the arts that lead to productive, engaged citizenship.

Pakachoag outreach programs take a number of forms and tend to vary from year to year based upon needs and resources.

Some of the ways the School expands its reach through outreach include:

• Faculty and student performances at area nursing homes, senior centers or at civic events;
• Education/enrichment based programs brough off-site, often in partnership with other not-for-profit organizations.
• Satellite, tuition-based early childhood classes reaching families in rural communities. Currently includes classes in Sturbridge and Sterling.