My Department's approach to tackling disadvantage has been refined to ensure that individual "at risk" pupils are targeted. Rather than the old method of designating schools as disadvantaged, we now provide supports commensurate with the levels of concentration in schools of pupils with characteristics associated with educational disadvantage.
The school to which the Deputy refers is included in the urban dimension of my Department's Giving Children an Even Break programme aimed at combating educational disadvantage. The school receives additional financial resources to provide educational supports to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils.
A key element of DEIS, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, the new action plan for educational inclusion, is the putting in place of a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage in our primary and second level schools for the purposes of qualifying for resources, both human and financial, according to the degree of disadvantage experienced. That standardised system will replace all the existing arrangements for targeting schools for participation in initiatives to address disadvantage.
As a result of the identification process, approximately 600 primary schools, comprising 300 urban or town and 300 rural, and 150 second level schools, will be included in a new school support programme, SSP. The SSP will bring together and build upon several existing interventions for schools and school clusters or communities with a concentrated level of educational disadvantage.
We anticipate being able to notify participating schools regarding the outcome of the ongoing identification process in the near future.