Ghozza Quality Service Charter

Contents

Who we are

This charter

How to contact us

Opening hours

Information protected

Personal consideration and respect

Our services and standards

How you can help us

How we monitor our performance

If you are not satisfied with our service

Learning from you!

Ghozza is a section of the Guidance and Counselling Service within the Department of Student Services and International Relations of the Education Division. It provides a support service and an educational programme to unmarried pregnant minors, with the intention of leading them to adopt a positive attitude towards motherhood while empowering them to pursue their career paths. The main policy of this Unit is to encourage the girls to continue with their educational studies. For this purpose we work closely with Heads of Schools, School Counsellors and Guidance Teachers. Contacts are made with the Matsec Board to facilitate attendance for examination sittings. After the birth of the child, the Unit does its utmost to help the girl return to school, especially if she is still under 16.

This charter

This charter outlines your rights and responsibilities, the services we provide and the standards we aim to achieve and which you can expect from us. It also tells you what to do if you wish to see any improvement in our service. Through this charter we are committing ourselves to providing you with a quality service.

How to contact us

You can contact us by:

• visiting us or writing to:

                    Ghozza

Sarria Street

Floriana VLT 16

• phoning on: 21243869

• sending a fax on: 21233115

• sending an email on: girlmothers.unit@gov.mt

• accessing our website on: http://schoolnet.gov.mt/guidance

• be prompt to attend to you

• be courteous and helpful at all times

• welcome you in a clean and friendly environment.

When you write to us you can expect us to:

• acknowledge your correspondence within one working day of receipt

• send a reply within five working days.

When you phone us you can expect us to:

• answer promptly

• identify ourselves.

When you send us an email, you can expect us to:

• send an immediate acknowledgement

• reply to your mail within five working days.

When you phone for an appointment, you can expect us to:

• give you an appointment within four working days according to the nature of the case. In exceptional circumstances, urgent cases are dealt with immediately.

In providing information we will:

• give you the most accurate, up-to-date information available to us.

We are open from Monday to Friday on school days as follows:

8.30a.m – 2.30p.m

For information on the exact dates and times of the service please phone on 21 243869.

Personal information provided is protected and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2001.

Personal consideration and respect

You can expect all staff who deal with you to treat you in the best possible manner. They will attend to your needs with courtesy and respect your privacy, dignity, culture, religious beliefs and lifestyle. All information provided is kept strictly confidential.

The Unit offers a number of programmes, catering for pregnant girls under 18, their partners and their parents. These programmes offer psychological, moral and educational support. They also provide support to girls both before and after the birth of the child.

The main services offered are:

• programme for pregnant girls

• support groups for mother and baby

• certification for attendance

• prevention programmes

• meetings for parents of pregnant girls

• counselling service

• customer care

The programme for pregnant girls includes sessions on self-development, motherhood and legal, social, emotional and medical issues connected with pregnancy, birth and parenting for early years. Personnel from various agencies are invited to contribute during these sessions. These include:

• Midwifery Team at St. Luke’s Hospital

• Sedqa

• ETC

• Consumers Department

• Department for Social Security

• Public Registry

• Health Promotion Department

• Immunisation Clinic

• Speech-Language Department

You can expect us to:

• provide these sessions three days a week

• provide IT facilities to enable the girls familiarise themselves with these skills

• keep ourselves up-to-date to be able to provide information on well-researched topics, to promote creativity, to train our clients in teamwork and related skills.

This programme was developed with the intention of giving the young mothers the opportunity to take part in group discussion, to engage in activities with their children and to offer sessions to the mothers while their children are catered for separately.

You can expect us to:

• offer this programme once a week

• provide a safe, comfortable and friendly playroom

• provide one – hour sessions to the girls while their children are engaged in activities and games

• provide Parenting Skills Programme for the Early Years

• provide aerobic sessions for the mothers.

A certificate of attendance and participation will be given to the student who attends at least 50% of the sessions in the programme.

Another certificate is given to the young mother who attends the six-session course of Parenting Skills for the Early Years.

Attendance is kept regularly and certificates are issued to the girls during the following scholastic year.

The programme Nifhmu ’l Uliedna fil-Bidliet is delivered to parents of students attending Year 5, 6 and 7 of Primary Schools. This programme consists of seminars for parents and deals with sexual issues and how these can be dealt within the family framework.

You can expect us to:

• offer these programmes to all primary schools in Malta and Gozo

• service two primary schools every week of the school year.

The programme content varies from information giving to moral support and group therapy.

We will:

• hold meetings on a regular basis

• provide the necessary support to parents as the need arises

• keep all disclosed information, queries and problems confidential

• keep parents informed of any follow up action that needs to be carried out by the Unit.

The Unit also provides counselling service to pregnant girls, their families, their partners and their parents.

This counselling service is offered to the young mothers who continue to be considered as clients of the Unit until they are married.

You can expect us to:

• provide this service free of charge

• offer this service by appointment and on request whenever possible

• contact suitable qualified personnel according to your needs

• deal with all matters in a strict and confidential manner.

The Unit has compiled an information leaflet about the services offered. This leaflet is distributed to schools, doctors, parish priests and other community leaders. In this way they will have first hand information about this Unit and how it may contribute to the community.

You can expect us to:

• keep this information leaflet up-to-date

• distribute this leaflet to all concerned

• carry out the necessary changes to suit our customers.

• You can help us to give you a better service by:

• treating us with courtesy and respect

• providing us with accurate and correct information

• providing us with all the relevant information or documents when these are needed

• attend the programmes held by the Unit.

We want to meet the standards set out in this charter in order to provide you wish a quality service. Assessing how well we perform against these standards is an important element for your satisfaction. We will assess and improve our standards by:

• talking to you

• giving importance to the queries and complaints we receive from you.

Thus, we will monitor our standards and find ways of improving them.

Your complete satisfaction is essential to us. We look into all complaints as they help us improve our service. If you think that we have failed to maintain our service delivery standards you can lodge a complaint. You may write to the following address:

The Director

Department for Student Services and International Relations

Great Siege Road

Floriana CMR 02

We promise to acknowledge all letters of complaint and send a reply within five working days.

We continuously strive to provide a service that meets your needs and we welcome any comments and suggestions for service improvement. Kindly give us your comments and suggestions by filling in the Feedback form on the backcover of this booklet and dropping it in our suggestion box. You can also send it by post to the address printed on the Feedback form itself.

You can also lodge a complaint, make a suggestion or ask a question by accessing the Customer Care System at www.servizz.gov.mt.

All information is correct at time of going to print. Updated information is available on the Charter Support Unit website and the Unit Ghozza website at http://schoolnet.gov.mt/guidance.

January 2005