Learning School
Understanding and addressing schooling challenges
Home for Good and Safe Families are currently partnering with Evangelical Alliance NI and collaborating with other Christian charities to shape an education initiative in Northern Ireland. Focusing on the interplay between families, schools and local churches, the project seeks to highlight specific areas of need and to offer positive, solution-focused responses.
Challenging Learning
For families in our networks and for the children we champion, ‘schooling’ presents particular challenges. The school experience can be a source of significant anxiety and upheaval, with implications not just on learning, but on social development, home life and future prospects. For schools, there is often significant strain on capacity and resources as they seek to provide appropriate care and learning opportunities for increasing numbers of children with complex needs, including care-experienced children who are managing the impacts of trauma and loss.
We believe that local churches are well placed to make a positive difference in this space and to bring hope for children, for families and for schools.
Schooling Hope
The education initiative seeks to:
- Raise awareness and understanding among churches of some of these more challenging education experiences for children, families and schools.
- Celebrate stories of positive community interventions and initiatives, particularly those led by, or supported by, local churches.
- Inspire church leaders and their churches to engage positively with local schools and to identify creative ways of supporting families and children with their education experience.
- Advocate on behalf of children, families and schools around these, with the aim of effecting positive, systemic change.
Helping us learn
Here are two ways in which you can play your part in this initial phase of listening and learning:
1. Share your experiences with us.
If you are a parent, carer, school principal/teacher or church leader, we’d love to hear about your experiences of some of the more challenging aspects of schooling. Please take a few minutes to complete the relevant survey below. We will use this information, along with some wider conversations, to inform a short briefing paper on these issues.
- Survey for the Home for Good NI network (foster and kinship carers, adoptive parents, supported lodgings hosts) - (10-12 mins)
- Survey for birth families or volunteers who support families (5-7 mins)
- To follow: Survey for school principals and teachers
- To follow: Survey for church leaders
2. Let us know about positive initiatives
Are you or your church involved in any local, community projects to support families or children around schooling? Do you know of any local charities or projects that are doing great work in this space? Please get in touch – we’d love to find out more!
In addition to partnering with Evangelical Alliance NI, we’ve worked with Aspire NI, SVP Northern Ireland and The Big House Ireland in the initial forming of this initiative.
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