Spark Afterschool Academy

My 2^nd-​grade daughter has been a part of the Spark Afterschool program at Repetto Elementary since Kindergarten, she even attends their summer camp program. My husband and I are really happy with all of the staff. My daughter especially loves the extracurricular activities that they plan such as Karate, Dancing, Cooking, Science Experiments, and much more. Sometimes my daughter doesn’t even want to leave when I pick her up after work. I love how they help with her homework and reading time. Whenever I pick up my daughter they always update me on how she did during the day and that really sets me at ease knowing that they really look out for all the kids. I highly recommend entering your child in the Spark Afterschool Academy if you have a full-​time job like me.

I sent my child to this school and initially, it appeared as a good placement as it’s in-​house in the school. However, I was extremely unhappy for the following reasons: (1) the high usage of I pad-​each day — when I come pick up my child, the kids are always on the I pad-​no matter whether it’s 1 hour or 2 hours before school closes (2) management is not willing to work with parents-​for example, my kid would not eat lunch at school and I asked that the stuff help remind her to eat once she arrives to their session and the response was «we can’t force the kid to eat», (3) the summer program-​their lunch is the free lunch provided by the city of Alhambra and the kids eat at the park with no tables, kids are to sit on the grass to eat and as it’s a free lunch from the city, you can imagine that the choices are not «healthy»; lunch includes (same menu weekly) bologna sandwich, hot dog and etc. One more factor for this poor rating is the payment option-​parents are required to pay either by cash or direct deduction from your bank account (you can imagine the amount of personal information they require)-parents do not have the option to pay by cheque-​if parents opt to pay by check, then there is an additional cost that parents have to pay for cheque processing-​extremely ridiculous, in my opinion! Bottom line, please get yourself well-​informed prior to signing you kid up for this program-​I stayed away and would never every recommend this place to any parents.

My family and I have been a part of the Spark family for over 2 years. My son began attending Spark Afterschool Academy in 2013 at the beginning of his 2^nd grade school year at Garfield Elementary School. The program has a schedule they adhere too which allows for different enrichment activities as well as daily homework assistance. The students are provided with a healthy snack each day as well. From the beginning my son felt happy, comfortable and «at-​home» amongst the Spark staff. They are extremely helpful and kind and really make you feel like family. I am grateful that Spark is at my sons school and that he benefits from such a wonderful program.