SCHOOL SUPPORTS FOR THOSE MOST AT RISK

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A number of government departments are responsible for policy responses to improve the wellbeing of children including.  The Department of Education and Skills have provided and funded schemes specifically designed to enhance school attendance and reduce early school leaving.  Included in the schemes are such initiatives as:

• Dssadvantaged Areas Scheme
• Book Grant Scheme
• Educational Psychological Services
• School Meals Programme
• The School Completion Programme
• Education of Non-nationals
• Special Needs
• Support Teachers Project
• The Learning Support Teacher Scheme

Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS)

The Department of Education and Skills has a range of national programmes in place to address educational disadvantage throughout the public school system. In 2005, following a review of these programmes, the Department published DEIS - Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools: an action plan for social inclusion. The plan brings a number of these programmes together under the framework of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS). It is a more integrated approach to the issue of educational inclusion which provides for:

• A standardised system for identifying and regularly reviewing levels of disadvantage and
• A new integrated School Support Programme (SSP) which will bring together and build upon the following existing schemes and programmes

Disadvantaged Areas Scheme

Over 200 post-primary schools have been designated as disadvantaged. They subsequently get a greater level of support in terms of pupil-teacher ratios, special grants and extra support for pupils. 

Book Grant Scheme

A grant scheme for schoolbooks for disadvantaged pupils in second level schools has operated since the introduction of free post primary education in the 1967/68 school year. This provides grant assistance to schools in order to provide free school books to disadvantaged students on a loan/rental basis. A necessitous pupil, for the purpose of this scheme, is defined as a pupil from a family in which genuine hardship exists because of – unemployment, prolonged illness of parent, large family with inadequate means, or single parent family.

Educational Psychological Services
The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is a service of the Department of Education and Science. NEPS psychologists work with both primary and post-primary schools and they are concerned with learning, behaviour, social and emotional development. Each psychologist is assigned to a group of schools.

NEPS psychologists specialise in working with the school community.  They work in partnership with teachers, parents and children in identifying educational needs. They offer a range of services aimed at meeting these needs, for example, supporting individual students (through consultation and assessment), special projects and research.

"NEPS mission is to support the personal, social and educational development of all children through the application of psychological theory and practice in education, having particular regard for children with special educational needs."

School Meals Programme

The School Meals Programme aims to supplement the diets of school-going children from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them fulfil their potential within the educational system and to reduce the risk of early school leaving.

The School Completion Programme

This programme, introduced in 2002, aims to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds to remain in school until Leaving Certificate level. It incorporates the "8 to 15 Early School Leaver Initiative" and the "Stay in School" Retention Initiative. The Programme recognises that a wide variety of home, community and school based factors can contribute to low school attainment and early school leaving.

Education of Non-nationals

Post-primary schools with an enrolment of fourteen or more non-national students with English language deficits are entitled to an additional teacher to address the needs of these students. An individual student is entitled to a maximum of two years language support. These teacher appointments are temporary, due to the transient nature of the non-national student population. In the case of a school having twenty-eight or more non-English speaking non-nationals, the school is entitled to a second additional teacher.

Special Needs

Children of second level age with milder forms of disability are generally catered for on an integrated basis in mainstream post-primary schools. Such students are supported by special support teachers and/or special needs assistants. The level of need is based on the assessed needs of the individual student.

Support Teachers Project

The Support Teachers Project aims to co-ordinate a whole-school approach to discipline that will help to prevent the occurrence of disruptive behaviour. Typically, the support teacher targets the twelve to fifteen most disturbed or disruptive children in the school and works with these pupils on a one-to-one basis or in small groups.

Home-School-Community Liaison Scheme

The Home-School Community Liaison Scheme aims to improve co-operation between home, schools and communities to advance the educational interests of disadvantaged children.

The Learning Support Teacher Scheme

Learning support teachers provide extra support teaching for children experiencing learning difficulties, particularly in the core areas of literacy and numeracy. Generally this extra support is provided in the form of extra teaching in small groups or individually