Normandin Middle School to Add ‘PRIME Time’ Enrichment Period to School Day with $385,000 State Grant

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Highlights:
– Exciting new arts, communications and STEM opportunities
– Choices and independent pathways for students
– School day will shift to 7:30 a.m. – 3:24 p.m. beginning October 3

Normandin Middle School will introduce PRIME Time, an enrichment period for all students at the end of the school day, beginning Monday, October 3, 2016.

Normandin educators voted Monday, September 19, to accept the PRIME Time schedule based on resources of a $385,000 expanded learning time grant from the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that will add a PRIME Time enrichment period for project-based learning for all Normandin students.

Beginning October 3, Normandin’s school hours will shift to 7:30 a.m. to 3:24 p.m. (Currently, school begins at 7:45 a.m. and dismisses at 2:30 p.m.) All bus routes will accommodate the revised schedule.

What is PRIME Time?

PRIME Time is independent, student-selected opportunities at the end of every school day. At Normandin, PRIME Time periods will focus on:

– Project-based learning
– Readiness for college and career
– Independent pathways
– More choices for students
– Experiential opportunities

These hands-on, creative enrichment periods for students will feature more time for unified arts, and will allow for students to select their own pathways and make PRIME Time their own time.

With a 7:30 a.m. start time and 3:24 p.m. dismissal beginning October 3, all bus routes will accommodate the shifted schedule. Extracurricular activities and athletics within Normandin will also accommodate the schedule for all students involved.

“We are very excited that Normandin students will receive an independent, enrichment-based period that will engage and motivate them to learn more in areas that they would not be able to explore in a typical middle school,” said Superintendent Pia Durkin. “We are delighted that Normandin is one of just three expanded learning time grants awarded in Massachusetts. Middle school is a critically important time in students’ lives and giving them opportunities to independently select enrichment and elective courses will strengthen their learning and make them engaged as readers and writers, and as the brilliant scholars they are. We recognize the PRIME Time enrichment shift in the school schedule affects families and students, and we will work to accommodate the entire Normandin community as the schedule shifts next month.”

About Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Awards from DESE:

Normandin Middle School received $385,000 and Hayden McFadden Elementary School received $330,600. Normandin teachers ratified the proposal to apply for the grant earlier this school year.

Twelve schools statewide applied for the funding with only three receiving ELT, two of them in New Bedford. This highly competitive process at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received proposals from 44 applicants requesting funding for 64 sites, or $9.8 million in funding with just $3 million available.

Key attributes for applicants according to the DESE were clarity of design, plans for integration of academics into engaging, enrich activities, solid internal/external partnerships, and explicit connections between plans and grant priorities. The three-year ELT grants require reapplication each year.

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