In order to complement the local educational offering, which is often inaccessible to many, and in response to the necessity of working families to manage their children’s free time, LaBCasa Gialla sul Molo offers a daily afterschool program to primary and first-degree secondary school pupils (those attending elementary school and middle school). We structure this in small groups based on age. Our job is to enable the children to develop a more active and independent approach to learning; to grow more confident of their own abilities and competences. We work to make sure that children with more challenges are adequately supported in facing learning difficulties, and those who already navigate school successfully are able to remain engaged through solidarity and peer-to-peer learning. Where it is needed, we work with local educators to draft joint teaching strategies, and to put in place specialized programs for more challenged pupils (DSA-BES-ADHD NAI).

While we are conscious of the importance of school work, LaBCasa Gialla sul Molo should not only be seen as a space for children to study and complete homework assignments: we believe that play, entertainment and collective reflexion can be complementary to these activities; they can help train the children in creative thinking, stimulate their interests and curiosity, and turn them into active protagonists of the community instead of mere recepients of educational aid. These activities are also instrumental in forging a tightly-knit community through the encouragement of inclusion, interaction, dialogue, teamwork, and the capacity to listen to one another.