If your child has a high level of anxiety , has been struggling unsuccessfully to attend school and is currently out of school for 6 months or more take heart from the following article in the Irish Examiner.
No fear of going to school with iScoil
By Jennifer Hough
JOYCE DOYLE’S son displayed “severe anxiety” which made him physically ill when he began attending secondary school.
At just 13, he was diagnosed with school phobia and doctors prescribed him sedatives to try and calm him down. “That didn’t work of course,” his mother said. “The attitude was that he should be able to go to school. The system doesn’t understand and if someone is different they are seen as dysfunctional. After a lot of confrontations with doctors and schools I found an alternative for him.”
That alternative is iScoil, Ireland’s first online post-primary school, developed for students between the ages of 12 and 16 who have disengaged from the school system. Funded by the Presentation Sisters, iScoil currently caters for 50 learners and is located in five clusters around the country: Dublin, the East Coast, Limerick, Galway and Longford.
According to team leader Marianne Checkley each student is assessed on an individual basis for their suitability to the programme. Ms Checkley said since the programme started there has been a big increase in demand for the service. “We have a waiting list for September and we often have to turn people down.”
The online school has the backing of the National Education Welfare Board, which often passes on referrals.Ms Doyle said iScoil is working fantastically for her son who has a personal mentor that brings her up to speed once a month on how he is doing. “For him, it is definitely a better option than regular school,” she said.
We estimate that 1,000 children leave each year before completing junior cert and 43% of those were either unemployed or seeking their first job and still looking a year later,” she said.
“With the exception of residential care and home tuition there is no alternative state provision for this age group. iScoil caters for young people at risk, who have been out of school for six months and have tried other interventions.”
To read the full article follow the link below
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/no-fear-of-going-to-school-with-iscoil-154426.html
