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The Minister highlighted a number of good examples of collaborative
working within and across the education, social services and
voluntary sectors, such as the Area Child Protection Committees
and the School Age Mothers’ Programme.
He said: “Much of this excellent collaborative working
has a common characteristic – it has a single issue
focus, our energies are addressed to meeting the needs of
a clearly identifiable group of vulnerable children. We now
have the prospect of a new opportunity in education to improve
the life chances for vulnerable children and to make a real
difference to the communities from which they come.”
Commenting on role of the Education Action Zones, the Minister
said:
“The creation of Education Action Zones (EAZs) in Northern
Ireland was announced late last year. I see EAZs as providing
a longer term means of addressing the deep-seated, endemic
problems which some schools are facing, particularly in areas
where poverty, drug abuse and violence are rife. This will
be a cross government approach, bringing together the specialist
support necessary to tackle the endemic problems of local
communities, with the school becoming a community resource
providing facilities and support for the services the community
needs, both in and beyond education.”
Concluding he said: “The conference will provide you
with an opportunity to gather your own thoughts about how
you can make a difference to the lives of children. To remind
yourself that ‘Every Child Matters’.”
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