Situation in Ireland today

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Written by Super User

Category: Early school leaving: situation in Europe today

St. Kevin’s Community College is a DEIS school under the Delivering Equality of Education in Schools Government Programme. As such it benefits from extra funding and personnel. We have lower teacher pupil ratio along with funding for the School Completion Programme (SCP), Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) officer, School Meals scheme and the Learning Support Teacher Scheme

 St Kevin’s also has a part time  Career Guidance Counsellor,  a Chaplain,  an Attendance Officer,  Gluais Student Leadership Group, Student Council as well as a system of Tutors and Year heads for each class group. 

School Completion Programme (SCP)

There is an SCP co-ordinator who works with St. Kevin’s and three of the local Primary Schools.  The co-ordinator has responsibility for ensuring the funding is spent in the best way to assist students at risk of early school leaving. The SCP targets the students most at risk of dropping out of school early but also supports the whole school community.

The programmes that are funded by SCP in St. Kevin’s include:

1.      The Transfer Programme

Throughout the year incoming first year students take part in different activities in St. Kevin’s to help prepare them for the move to their new school.  Many of  the 6^th Class students from the primary schools who will be attending St. Kevin’s in the following September are invited to take part in a Summer Camp in St Kevin’s where they can become familiar with what will be their new school and create a sense of belonging before arriving into first year. 

2.      Junior Study

Junior students are provided with a quiet place to study, supervised by a teacher who is there to give guidance and direction with both homework and study

3.      Homework Club

First and second year students are given a quiet structured atmosphere in which to do their homework.  A teacher is there to supervise guide and direct.

4.       Horse riding

A different group of students every week (usually from the main target group) go horse riding after school.

5.      Other Extra Curricular Activities (ECA)

Many different sports activities are c-ordinated and run as part of SCP to encourage students to take more of an interest I school.

6.      Transition Year (TY)[1]

This year 2012-13, St. Kevin’s re introduced TY into the school.  The SCP made a contribution towards running this very costly one year programme. TY was re-introduced as we saw the need to keep students in school an extra year. If we only ran a 2 year senior cycle 86% of students would be only 16 years of age completing school.

Home, School, Community Liaison (HSCL)

Our HSCL person  has a vital role in St. Kevin’s This person works closely with the parents committee in the school, visits families of our students and works to create partnerships with relevant organisations in the community. The HSCL is a vital link between home and school.

School Meals

Every day the students at St. Kevin’s are given a sandwich and a piece of fruit.  Those taking part in activities after school will also be offered something to eat after school. 

Learning Support Teacher Scheme

A high proportion of our students have varying degrees of educational and emotional difficulties and as a result there are often extra hours available to management to allocate learning support.  Learning support can be in the form of literacy and numeracy, and or behavioural support.  The extra help may be one on one or in small groups.  We also have the support of the National Behavioural Support Services –NBSS - for very challenging students.

Career Guidance Counsellor

The role of the guidance counsellor is to advise and assist students with career and subject choices and to help the student discover their future path.  The guidance counsellor also has a pastoral role and assists students with a variety of issues from academic to personal.

 

 

 

School Chaplain

St. Kevin’s is a multi denominational school and has the services of a full time Chaplain who looks after the faith formation of the students in the school.  The Chaplain also teaches and works as a counsellor for all students in the school regardless of belief or lack thereof. 

Attendance Officer

In St. Kevins’ the attendance officer is funded by the SCP to  keeps record of absences, and explanatory notes.  A record of attendance is provided for tutors and year heads each month and is also sent to parents on a regular basis.  The attendance officer will make regular phone calls to the homes of students who have been missing a lot of school. 

Gluais group

The Gluais group are a group of senior students who receive intensive leadership and team work training over five days.  This group work with incoming first years to aid the transition from primary school to secondary school.  Each new group of first years will have two or three senior students who they can go to with any problems they might have.  The Gluais also organise events for first years in the school.

Student Council

Each class in school from first to sixth year have the opportunity to have one or two students from their class on the student council to represent them.  The student council represent the students and are consulted by the wider school community on policy making.  The Council try to make the school community aware of the needs of the students in the school and work to meet those needs. 

Tutors and Year heads

Our Tutor and Year Head system is an integral part of St. Kevin’s. Each class has a tutor and each year group has a year head.  These people are usually the first port of call for students if they have queries, requests, issues, problems etc.  Each class meets their tutor twice per day; once in the morning for 10 minutes for morning registration and in the afternoon for five minutes for afternoon registration.

During morning registration the tutor calls the roll, ensures students are prepared for the morning and checks the homework journal for the following:

·         Has homework been written in and ticked off when completed

·         Has any teacher written positive negative comments into the journal on the previous day

·         Has the parent seen and signed the journal (must be signed at home every day).

During afternoon registration the tutor calls the roll and ensures students are prepared for the afternoon.

The Students Support Team

The Student Support team in St. Kevin’s meet weekly to discuss students who may be having difficulties emotionally and academically. The team is made up of the Home School Community Liaison Officer, the School Completion Programme Officer, the Guidance Counsellor and the Chaplain. The team would liaise very closely with all Tutors and Year Heads and have a remit of referral to outside support agencies.

The Student Support team ensures that there is a coordinated, whole school approach to supporting students in the school.