Five Waterford schools are to pursue a pilot project targeting young people who are at risk of early school-leaving and aiming to bring back into mainstream education numbers of children who have left the formal school system.
Under the auspices of Waterford Area Partnership, a city consortium of statutory and voluntary organisations involved with youth and community development has been granted funding through the Department of Education to develop the project in local primary and secondary schools.
A total of £120,000 per annum for two years is being granted to Ballybeg National School, Lisduggan Senior National School, Presentation National School, St Paul's Community College and Presentation Secondary School.
The project will involve providing flexible curricula, counselling, groupwork, homework, outdoor pursuits, community work and personal development programmes.
The funding comes from the European Social Fund as part of its targeting of disadvantage in the education field, and the pilot scheme will build on experience gained from existing projects funded by the Waterford Area Partnership locally.
Census data have shown that almost 23 per cent of the Waterford population have completed school before the age of 16 years, but that in some specific areas of the city the proportion is much higher.