The
Board has a statutory duty to ensure that
children and young people receive an education
suitable to their age, aptitude and any
special educational needs. The role of the
Education Welfare Service (EWS) is to assist
the Board in discharging this legal obligation.
1.2
Mission Statement
The
EWS promotes the participation of marginalized
children and young people in beneficial
education by a partnership and inclusive
approach.
1.3
Objectives
•
To ensure that parents1 are aware
of their responsibility for ensuring that
their children receive an education appropriate
to their age, aptitude and ability
•
To work with marginalised children and their
families to encourage children and young
people to access educational provision
•
To work with schools and other education
providers to ensure a continuity of education
for children and young people experiencing
problems with school
•
To work with other board services and external
agencies to contribute to the overall welfare
of vulnerable children
The
EWS works with children and young people
to promote their welfare and to encourage
their attendance at school.
1.4
EWS Service Users
The
EWS provides a service to all schools within
the SELB area and to children and young
people who live within the SELB area, including
those who attend schools in other Board
areas. Table 1 shows the number of pupils
attending the different types of school
within the Board in the 1999/2000 academic
year.
Currently
85%-90% of the service provided by the EWS
is concentrated on the Board’s post
primary school provision, in particular
working in 38 secondary schools. Primary
and special schools receive a lower level
of service and in many cases an EWO would
contact primary schools only once a term.
Nursery schools do not currently receive
any service from the EWS. It is therefore
appropriate and in keeping with the Board’s
Targeting Social Need (TSN) Objective ‘to
raise the quality of early learning for
socially disadvantaged children and young
people’ for consideration to be given
to increasing the level of service provided
to the primary sector and possibly the nursery
sector in order to address problems at an
early stage and before they become intractable
in the later stages of post-primary education.
1
Parents is used throughout the report to
mean the person(s) with parental responsibility
2
Half of these pupils attend nursery classes
in primary schools
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