What is the project?
Mike Castle, Vulnerable learner lead at St Martin’s School, Caerphilly, applied for support to enhance their work using an Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) approach to improve attendance. The school are already using the approach to work collaboratively with teachers, parents and learners on attendance and their bid was to enable the school to provide financial assistance to address specific barriers identified during initial screening.
How will learners benefit?
The assistance provided to learners will be entirely bespoke and based on the results of initial screening where particular push and pull factors have been identified. It may be that learners will be supported with fees to engage in a local sports club so that they build ties to their local community; it could involve covering costs of transportation until permanent solutions are found or perhaps help acquiring essential equipment.
Why was it funded?
Mike’s application was thoroughly researched, contained evaluative data from the school to explain the importance of the work and excellent detail on the way in which impact would be measured and monitored. The issue of sustainability of the project was also considered.
