City Connects has made the news in Ireland, where our model is being implemented in 10 schools in Dublin’s North East Inner City.
“For the pupils and teachers at St Vincent’s Boys’ Infant School in Dublin, a change is under way,” an article from Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland’s National Public Service Media, reports.
“Where once the school struggled with high absentee levels, particularly on Mondays and Fridays, attendance rates are now rising, with the boys reporting feeling happier coming to school.
“It is a change that School Principal Caoimhe Sheehan puts down to the introduction of a pilot project called City Connects.”
Sheehan herself says, “The boys are coming to school every day so excited about the different activities they can access.
“We have capoeira (mixed martial arts), gymnastics, athletics, football. Since the activities have been brought in, the absentee levels have dropped. It has been absolutely incredible.”
The work of providing these diverse activities for students is based on the use of comprehensive student interest surveys.
“This helps the City Connects coordinators determine which activities are needed where,” the article explains
Martin Shovelin, a City Connects Coordinator, adds, “Activities and private classes such as boxing and drama may already exist within a local area, but a lot of these kids’ parents may not know about them, or be able to afford them.
“But now, we can facilitate the roll-out of these facilities in schools and hopefully overcome those barriers so that they have a level playing field.”
Evaluations of the work that coordinators do in Dublin will add to City Connects’ knowledge about how to provide integrated student support in a cultural setting outside the United States.
To learn more, please read the article as well as our blogs about City Connects in Ireland.
