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Testimonials

City of Dublin VEC

I thought I would just tell you what this school has been to me and my fellow students. It was a place where I was surrounded by all of these people but didn’t feel all alone. Coming to this school was one of the best things that ever happened to me. This school is a place where you felt like you were part of a family. We were surrounded by teachers and staff that seemed to take a personal interest in how well we did. It is a home for the people who want to acquire knowledge ... I'm really glad they were there for me and my fellow students, when we needed them.


Liberian Student, 

City of Dublin VEC

 

 
The City of Dublin VEC Separated Children’s Service has provided a youth and education service to separated children seeking asylum since 2001. Separated children seeking asylum are children under 18 years of age who are outside their country of origin and are separated from either their parents or their legal/customary primary caregivers. Some children may be totally alone while others may live with extended family.
 
Separated children seeking asylum who are of school-going age attend the Separated Children’s Service Refugee Access Programme (RAP). This intensive transition programme works with children regardless of their educational background or English language ability. The programme aims to equip young people with the skills to participate in mainstream education. The ERF has supported City of Dublin VEC to expand RAP. The project is based locally in Dublin City. However, all learning and resources from the project will be available nationally.
 
The project carries out a number of actions including:
  • Increasing RAP tuition hours for English as a Second Language, Maths and Life skills
  • Developing a short-term syllabus for English as an Additional Language, Maths and Life Skills
  • Developing learning resources for students
  • Producing an orientation DVD for newly-arrived students.
 
The project is also developing a range of resources for educators such as: 
  • Preliminary needs assessment tools
  • Teaching resources
  • Education and training workshops
A project website www.separatedchildrenservice.ie, which will host information and resources.
​
RAP Completed in August 2013.
 
Case Study

Until 2010, our access programme provided basic skills training for newly arrived separated children who were complete beginners in English. Previously, separated children would normally have remained in Dublin and attended school there. As a result of changes in relation to care provision for this target group, some of these young people are now settling in areas outside of Dublin and attending local schools. These schools and their teachers do not have a history of working with separated children.
 
We aim to support these schools by providing them with relevant teaching and learning resources for English as an Additional Language. These materials will support the development of students’ core skills. This will increase their ability to engage more with the content of a broad range of subjects at school.
 
Resource materials are being developed which can be used with groups of students with different levels of ability. In-service training will also be offered to mainstream and language support teachers on how to use these resources. Regional seminars will be offered to both mainstream and language support teachers in developing materials for mixed level classes.