DEIS Funding - Guidelines

DEIS Action Plan

School Support Programme - Primary

Guidelines on the appropriate use of funding

DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, is being rolled out on a phased basis over the period 2005-10, and focuses on addressing the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities, from pre-school through second-level education (3 to18 years).

The action plan provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Support Programme will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage.

The action plan is one element of a continuum of interventions to address disadvantage, which include second-chance education and training and access measures for adults to support increased participation by under-represented groups in further and higher education. A further element of this continuum is the ongoing development of provision for newcomers, Travellers and pupils with special educational needs.

The new action plan represents a shift in emphasis away from individual initiatives, each addressing a particular aspect of the problem, with the new plan adopting a multi-faceted and more integrated approach.

The key principle of early intervention underpins the early childhood education measure, the literacy and numeracy measures and those to address early school leaving being adopted under the action plan. The plan will place a renewed emphasis on the involvement of parents and families in children's education.

Also central to the success of the action plan will be an increased emphasis on planning at school and school cluster level, target-setting and measurement of progress and outcomes to ensure that the increased investment is matched by an improvement in educational outcomes for the children and young people concerned.

Actions under the Plan

The following actions, which should be closely linked to existing school structures and integrated into every aspect of the school's work (and in rural schools with support being provided through the rural teacher co-ordinator service where appropriate), are recommended under the Plan:

• the early identification of pupils at risk of underachievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy, and early school leaving is of primary importance

• the enrolment and retention of pupils most at risk of educational disadvantage is continued and supported in school policy, planning and practice

• the adoption of a ‘whole-school’ approach in addressing issues of educational disadvantage and social exclusion

• the development of understanding of educational disadvantage and the implementation of new methodologies and practices to meet the needs of the identified children

• supporting and engaging parents in their children’s education

• the involvement of the wider community in supporting children through in-school and out-of-school activities
• inter-agency collaboration and a partnership of the home, the school and local support services dealing with health, justice, youth and family affairs and issues of community development.

Co-ordination of Existing Resources

The deployment of existing resources, both human and financial, should be carefully reviewed. The aim is to ensure that the resources, both human and financial, being made available under the DEIS action plan and under pre-existing schemes to address educational disadvantage are directed to support children at risk of underachievement and early school leaving, maximise the benefit to the children concerned and help tackle those impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage. Local initiatives of voluntary and statutory agencies should also be accessed, where appropriate.

Appropriate use of the funding under the Plan

Financial resources should be targeted at the individual pupils who are most at risk and at addressing educational disadvantage. These resources should be focused on the provision of in-school and out-of-school supports for the specific pupils whose enrolment qualified the school for the additional supports.

In this regard emphasis should be placed on:

• supporting the children most in need through a focused response
• identifyingthe needs of the individual targeted pupils – especially needs relating to literacy and numeracy but also social and personal needs – and develop strategies that best meet these needs
• providing opportunities for mentoring at a number of levels – pupil/pupil, teacher/pupil, parent/pupil, community person/pupil, higher level student/pupil, business community person/pupil
• giving children access to cross-curricular literacy projects, Music, Art, Dance, Drama, ICT, Media Studies and Life Skills
• developing and enhancing staff attitudes, skills and ways of working with marginalised children and their families
• generating school and community related social, sport and leisure activities
• offering after school and holiday time support – for literacy and numeracy development as well as homework support, social and personal development and arts activities
• involving parents in their children’s learning and developing their confidence and capabilities in their role as primary educators
• developing a local strategy of planning, implementing and reviewing actions and supports

It is recommended that at least 10% of the annual DEIS grant to each school should be allocated for use on HSCL activities by the HSCL coordinator.

Arising from DEIS related activities, individual school buildings may open earlier, e.g. to cater for clubs, or remain open later in the evenings for other DEIS related activities. Some of the additional capitation may be used to meet ancillary costs such as heating, lighting and other miscellaneous charges arising from this type of activity. (For further clarification Circular Letter P.P. m18/05 & Prim 16/05 - The Sharing of School Facilities with the Community – refers).

In accordance with Section 18 of the Education Act, 1998 the Department requests that schools continue to keep record of all materials and resources purchased with grants. Receipts in respect of such purchases should be retained in the school.

Social Inclusion Unit

March 2007