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Alfa’s Mission

• Alfa has created a curriculum of experiential learning covering three years for 13 year olds up to 16 year olds.

• Alfa strives to lead the adolescent from the protection and dependency of childhood toward the freedom and responsibility of the adult world.

• Alfa facilitates this through engaging young people actively in the process of learning.

• Alfa recognises that for children to reach their full potential, a threefold approach to education is called for so they are educated through the head (academic), the heart (artistic) and the hands (craft).

• Alfa strives to make education understandable and meaningful in the deepest sense.

• Alfa strives to nurture the creativity inherent in every student.

• Alfa understands that relationships are the key to a healthy learning environment, the relationship a student has to the subject matter, to their teachers, to their peers and that the teacher has to the students and their parents are of utmost importance. 

• Alfa is a learning community involving teachers, parents and students.

• Alfa exists because parents are inspired and empowered to ensure their children’s education meets their needs.

Education should  

• Support young people in their quest to understand the world

• Deepen their experience of their own humanity

• Encourage enlightened thinking – providing them with the tools (curriculum) and the environment to develop their capacity to think creatively, as well as objectively.

• Foster Warmth towards others that allows the emergence of empathy and the ability to act in a conscientious and generous manner in the world.

• Develop Strength of will – so they can put their ideas into action & take initiative

• Give young people confidence in their own abilities

• Engender a love for learning and a love for living

To ensure that this occurs, knowledge of child development is essential, each child goes through an internal as well as an external development from childhood to adulthood.  The adolescent, in whom the delicate transition from childhood to adulthood is at the beginning, needs the curriculum to support the inner psychological and emotional processes.  So a healthy balance is achieved in their school life. 

Alfa chooses to work with 13 –16 year olds, if at the age of thirteen the young person is unhappy in secondary school and they can join Alfa for three years and experience a different approach to learning.  This gives them the option of rejoining secondary school at 16 years to do their Leaving Certificate.   If they are helped at this stage in their lives to find meaning in what they are doing and enjoy learning, this will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

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Brief History

Parents living in East Clare began to ask questions 10 years ago when it was obvious that there was a significant minority of young people not finishing school, leaving school early, deeply unhappy in school, becoming ill through school or bored and disengaged.  Every year families were thrown into turmoil trying to find suitable education for their child, some children moved from school to school hoping that the next would be better than the last. 

We discovered by talking to some of the early school leavers, that they were put off by the emphasis on learning for the exams and the pressure put on them to pass exams.  They found some of the classes unbearable, a few were ignored because they had stopped trying, and others found it hard to fit in with their peers.   They could not see the point of school and inevitably they left school.  It quickly became clear that something radical was needed so that teenagers of all abilities could connect with learning again.

  It was obvious to all that a different approach to education is needed for these young people to re-engage them with education, earlier, before they became stuck in a marginalized existence from school leaving age. 

In 2000 a group of parents from a variety of backgrounds and experience started to meet.  This group undertook research on different approaches to education from around the world (see under curriculum and  research for more information on this). 

The Alfa Project was conceived out of weekly meetings and working groups of the 7 founder parents over 20 months, and an intensive week long training course with Linda Fryer.

Alfa opened its doors in September 2001 for a group of 12 students, in a Log Cabin with no electricity or running water, outside Mountshannon.  Much of the first two years was spent making our own school out of very basic facilities.  Those students who completed two years with us before continuing their education in other places, were pioneers of a unique educational experience.

 In 2003 we took on 2 small groups of students aged 13-15 years old who stayed with us for one year and we moved to the East Clare Community Co-op in Scariff.

In 2005 the present group of 15 students joined us when they were aged 12-14 years, and we are based in the small town of Scarriff.  Their and our intention is that they will remain in Alfa for 3 years and they can then make informed choices on how and where to continue their education.

The Alfa Project sets out to provide three years of full-time education for young people of 13 years to until they are 16 years.  Up to 2006 Alfa has educated 23 students as well as the group of 15 students it has at present.  Alfa began in September 2001 for a group of 14 students, 12 completed two years with us before continuing their education in other places.  In 2003 we took on 2 small groups of students aged 13-15 years old who stayed with us for one year, regrettably we had to close for a year in 2004 due to a funding shortfall.  In 2005 the present group of 15 students aged 12-14 years joined.  Their and our intention is that they will remain in Alfa for 3 years and they can then make informed choices on how and where to continue their education.

 At present we rent a classroom and an office from the East Clare Community Co-operative, as a tenant Alfa is part of the management of the co-operative along with the other groups renting space.  This premises is adequate, if a little cramped, for the next year but in 2007 Alfa needs larger 2 classroom accommodation and by 2009 it will need a third classroom.   Alfa has the use of a Log Cabin about 2 miles from Mountshannon up in the Slieve Aughty mountains that is being used once a term for outdoor projects lasting about 3 weeks each.  The Log Cabin is up for sale so we will no longer be able to use it once it is sold. 

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Future Plans for the Alfa Project

 At present we rent a classroom and an office from the East Clare Community Co-operative, as a tenant, Alfa is part of the management of the co-operative along with the other groups renting space.  This premises is adequate, if a little cramped, for the next year but in 2007 Alfa needs larger 2 classroom accommodation and by 2009 it will need a third classroom.   The Log Cabin is now sold and we need premises that allow us to do a wide range of outdoor projects

In the next five years, the current phase, the Alfa Project expects to grow by taking on a new group of students each year from September 2007, by 2009 we will reach 45 students per year and will continue with this number until the next phase.  The current management group of Alfa have identified the kind of premises Alfa needs.  It is a piece of land within 5 miles of Scariff with either a house or old farm buildings with running water, a river or stream and woodland for outdoor projects.  Alfa plans to build wooden workshop style classrooms involving the students where possible.  Alfa aims to have low tech, sustainable, low maintenance buildings using renewable energies and recycling.  It is a good opportunity for the students to learn about sustainability from a practical perspective. When Alfa has established itself in a permanent situation then the premises can be used during the summer break for summer craft camps for inner city children and for training courses in crafts for adults.  This could be an extension of Alfa’s work or these could be run by another group in conjunction with Alfa.

 Choice in Education

An intention of Alfa is to bring greater awareness that alternatives to state education exist and are successful.  If the Alfa Project can reach its potential then not only will more young people benefit from the education it provides, it will also be a model for other groups with similar ideals to follow. 
Alfa is based in the community and run by the community, the community of people most committed to excellence in education, parents and teachers.

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Our  students

Student Profile

We have an unusual cultural mix that reflects the changes taking place in both East Clare and across Ireland. The majority of the families moved into the Clare area in the last 15 years, from other parts of Ireland and mainly from Europe.  This can give them a different perspective from their peers born and raised in East Clare. 

Our Present students

This group are a younger cohort than previously, some joined us aged 12 going on 13 years and the majority having reached thirteen.   While most came straight from primary schooling, some had been home schooled for over a year or more.

The first year with this group was a great success culminating in a wonderful production of
"Les Miserables" based on the novel by Victor Hugo, in the Feakle Community hall in June 2006.

There are now 6 girls and 9 boys, who have started their second year with Alfa with many new projects lined up, for example they will be building a storage shed, an outdoor classroom using the design for a Yurt, and building an outdoor pizza making oven for the Scariff Community Garden.

Our Past Students     

Our first group of 12 students graduated from The ALFA Project at the end of June 2003, when they were aged 16-18 years old.  This pioneer group came from all over East Clare and from a variety of backgrounds and educational experience.  They, along with the adults involved, had to work through all the teething problems.   They were a very lively, socially cohesive group who had to face their own shortcomings, just as the adults had to face theirs in the first year particularly.  These students made a great contribution toward defining the ethos and the character of the Alfa Project.  In their 2 years at Alfa with us they took part in many practical and artistic projects that were based on the Steiner/Waldorf curriculum. The students completed FETAC modules in Maths, German, Drawing, Painting and Communications and they took 2 projects to the Young Scientists Exhibition 2003 in Dublin. 

Six of these students returned to secondary school to study for their Leaving Certificates, all of them passed. At present three of this group are in University, six are on various education courses including outward bound leadership, theatre design and film studies and three are working

Admissions for Students

 The Alfa Admissions Procedure begins with an Open Information Evening for parents in the Autumn.  Subsequent to the information evening, students who express interest in coming to Alfa are put on a list drawn up on a first come first served basis.   An Experience Day is held for these students in the Spring, so they can get a feel for Alfa’s different approach to education.    Students who are still interested in Alfa are then interviewed in April/May.  The interviews with the students, to which they bring their previous school reports, or work if they were home schooled; are to ascertain that Alfa can meet their needs.  Alfa has no extra provision for special needs and no capacity at present for one to one help.  At the same time as the interview with the Teachers, parents also meet with a representative of the Management Group who explain the financial and other requirements to parents. Students are informed as to whether or not they have a place in Alfa shortly after the interviews are completed. 

Most of our students hear about us through word of mouth, and we advertise our information evenings in shops, schools, etc in Scarriff and the outlying villages of Tulla, Feakle, Ogonelloe, Killaloe, Mountshannon and Whitegate. 

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