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| EXTENSION OF STEP-UP PROGRAMME IN 2009 | ||
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| STEP-UP is a 5-year pilot programme initiated in 2004 by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), in collaboration with National Council of Social Service (NCSS), to bring social work programmes into schools. The goal is to complement the school system with programmes to build and strengthen socio-emotional resilience within students, in particular students at risk. With STEP-UP coming to the end of its 5-year pilot run, MCYS has begun its evaluation of the programme to ensure the programme's usefulness, effectiveness, and relevance in today's context. Given the scale of the programme, we expect to complete the review by the end of March 2009. In the meantime, for STEP-UP Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) with the respective partnering schools that are already on the STEP-UP programme, we are pleased to inform that funding for STEP-UP will be extended for another year to Calendar Year 2009 (i.e. till 31 December 2009). MCYS will support 50% of the programme costs, per school, up to a maximum cap of $25,000 for Primary and Secondary Schools and Junior Colleges; and up to a maximum cap of $32,167 for ITE and Vocational Training Institutes. In view of the current review, however, we will not be accepting new applications, replacement of agencies or budget revisions to STEP-UP. For agencies/ schools that do not intend to continue STEP-UP programmes in 2009, we seek your assistance to send in the termination letter to NCSS by end October 2008. |
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| Termination | ||
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The termination of STEP-UP programme can be executed at any time of the year but should be mutually agreed upon between the school and VWO. A hardcopy letter should then be sent to NCSS, addressed to:
The letter does not require a particular format, but should include the following information:
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| Programme Change | ||
| VWOs are requested to notify NCSS at least 1 month before implementation of the programme changes, through submission of programme change forms. Please refer to templates attached below. Programme changes should align with STEP-UP guiding principles and outcomes. Please feel free to contact NCSS staff should you have further enquiries. All agencies are required to submit a STEP-UP Annual Report to NCSS for assessment and evaluation purposes. The forms will be sent out to the VWOs in November and are to be submitted in January of the next calendar year. |
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| Contact for Enquiry | ||
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| If you have any queries on STEP-UP, please get in touch with the following staff from NCSS: For Programme Enquiries Ms Susie Tan Senior Executive Children, Youth and Family Services, Service Development Division DID: 6210 2494 Email: susie_tan@ncss.gov.sg Ms Robyn Tan Senior Executive Children, Youth and Family Services, Service Development Division DID: 6210 2630 Email: robyn_tan@ncss.gov.sg For Funding Enquiries Ms Annie Won Principal Executive VWO Funding, Resource Allocation Division DID: 6210 2548 Email: annie_won@ncss.gov.sg Ministry's Contact Mr Wang Kecheng Youth Development Officer Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Youth Division DID: 6354 8005 Email: wang_kecheng@mcys.gov.sg |