After Schools Programmes

Travellers Youth Service operates After Schools Programme for 8 to 12 year olds in Ballyfermot (Labre Park / Kylemore Grove) and Clondalkin (St. Oliver's Park / Bridge View). The after-schools programmes aim to support Traveller children in school by providing a quiet space for homework, assistance in completing homework, additional leisure activities, a library, engaging parents in their children’s education and linking in with schools to enable the children to feel welcome and at home in school.



These programmes have been particularly successful in facilitating the transfer of young Travellers form primary to secondary school. The Visiting Teacher Service of the Department of Education and Science works closely with the after-schools programmes.

Labre Park and Kylemore Grove After-Schools Programme
Our After Schools programme in Labre Park has been running since 2001 and continues to support young people aged eight to twelve in their primary education. Funded through the Young Peoples’ Facilities and Services Fund and the School Completion Programme, the programme has seen a steady increase in transfer rates from primary to secondary level education. Through the programme, Christine Hughes, the coordinator and her staff aim to encourage school attendance and to promote a positive attitude to education. They provide homework assistance, literacy support, computer skills and curriculum appropriate activities. These are balanced with personal development activities such as arts and crafts, music and dance, games and group activities, projects and educational trips.

There are currently 30 boys and girls availing of the programme and five staff to work with those children providing one to one assistance where needed. The most popular activity on the programme has been computer skills and this remains an invaluable resource in terms of literacy support. There has also been a successful music programme run by CEOL where the children learned about reading music, understanding rhythm and singing together. The musical instruments they were introduced to proved so popular that another CEOL programme is being organised for tin whistle lessons and is due to start in April.

At this stage, all young people on the site of the appropriate age can be facilitated in the programme.

In September 2004 Exchange House received funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund to set up a new programme for young boys in Labre Park. This ‘Learning On The Streets’ (LOTS) Programme has been developed by The National College of Ireland and will provide support for boys in the 10 to 15 year age group to stay in education. It will run alongside our current After Schools and Youth Service Programmes. The LOTS Programme has the potential to have a huge impact on the future education of the boys in Labre Park and is an exciting development due to commence in Spring 2005.

St. Oliver’s Park Bridgeview After-Schools Programme
Since September 2002, our After-Schools Programme in St. Oliver’s Park and Bridgeview has been working with parents and children on the site to provide positive experiences of education. It is funded by the Department of Justice and Law Reform Equal Opportunities Programme and the School Completion Programme. Julie McDonagh took over as coordinator following the departure of Christopher Eccles.

A needs analysis carried out by TYS indicated that for parents and children, homework support was the first priority and that has formed the core of the programme. The children also work at basic computer skills and there is a big emphasis on reading for pleasure through a read and learn programme.

In order to counteract the tendency towards a sedentary lifestyle among young people, a Physical Exercise programme was introduced and has proved very popular with the children and parents.

Off site activities such as visits to places of interest in the city are carried out on a regular basis and facilitated by the youth workers.

Oliver’s Park is working at full capacity and has a waiting list of children wanting to attend the programme.

Lessons from our After-Schools Programmes
Exchange House has learned a lot from the experience of running both programmes.

Both After-School Programmes were set up based on the belief that the active engagement of parents and children in the educational process is the most effective way of ensuring positive learning experiences for the children and the outcomes have proved that this is indeed the case. Parents are supported in their liaisons with schools, which can be challenging for people who have not had good experiences of education in the past. Parents sit on the advisory groups of both programmes and people from the site are employed wherever possible n the programmes.

The advisory groups of both programmes are comprised of a broad range of representatives of the Agencies working on the sites, including Dublin City Council, Health Service Executive, Ballyfermot Travellers Action Project. We are particularly fortunate to have the active engagement of the Visiting Teacher Service, who work on a ongoing basis to develop and sustain relationships between the After-Schools programmes, the teachers in the local schools and the parents. The importance of this work cannot be overestimated.

The capacity of such programmes, when run in close cooperation with local schools, the Visiting teacher Service, on an interagency model, to deliver a higher quality educational experience is agreed by all the parties involved. From our point of view, it would be desirable to have the funding streamlined, as a significant amount of resources at organisational level go into sourcing funding from a range of funders and carrying out varying levels of reporting. The fact that the programmes are managed by a Traveller organisation such as Exchange House ensures that the Traveller community have a sense of ownership of the programmes. However, it would seem a more sensible use of resources if both programmes could be funded through the same source, such as, for example, the school completion programme. In that way, they could be evaluated locally, and be part of a more cohesive local strategy to ensure that Traveller children are given the best possible chance of equality of outcome within the education system.