St. Brendan's College

Mrs. Margaret Heffron is the Home School Community Liaison teacher in St. Brendan's College. Mrs. Heffron may be contacted in the school at any time and her main role is to support families and parents whose children are attending the school and particularly those students who may be experiencing educational or other disadvantage.

The aims of the liaison scheme are:

• To maximise active participation of the children in the schools of the scheme in the learning process, in particular those who might be at risk or failure

• To promote active co-operation between home, school and relevant community agencies in promoting the educational interests of the children

• To raise awareness in parents of their own capacities to enhance their children's educational progress and to assist them in developing relevant skills

• To enhance the children's uptake from education, their retention in the educational system, their continuation to post-compulsory education and to third level and their attitudes to life-long learning

• To disseminate the positive outcomes of the scheme throughout the school system generally

The Home/School/Community Liaison Scheme is a preventative strategy which is targeted at pupils who are at risk of not reaching their potential in the educational system because of background characteristics which tend to affect adversely pupil attainment and school retention. The scheme is concerned with establishing partnership and collaboration between parents and teachers in the interests of children's learning. It focuses directly on the salient adults in children's educational lives and seeks indirect benefits for the children themselves.

Parents

While the primary purpose of the scheme is the promotion of partnership in the children's learning, parents frequently identify needs which are not directly concerned with their children's education. Meeting those identified needs is a critical factor in the development of parents' awareness of their capacities and in fostering their self-confidence.

Scheme activities which meet parent's needs include:

• Home visitation with the objective of establishing bonds of trust with parents and families and supporting parents in the identification of their developmental needs

• Provision of drop-in centres and parents' rooms in schools

• Personal development through parenting and assertiveness training

• Leisure activities

• Aspects of educational development which range from basic literacy to certificate examination subjects and diploma courses