Vol. 433 No. 7
149 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education the reason children attending the Bishop Shanahan national school, Templeogue, Dublin 6, are in classes of 38 or 39 which is well above the EC average class size level; the steps, if any, she will take to reduce class sizes generally and in the school referred to.
The staffing arrangements for national schools is determined on a year to year basis in consultation with the managerial authorities and the INTO.
In the case of Bishop Shanahan Junior national school there were 460 pupils enrolled in the school on 30 September 1992 which warrants a staff of principal and 14 assistants for the 1993/94 school year. This is the correct staffing in accordance with the agreement on staffing made for the 1993/94 school year.
The only exceptions made from the agreed staffing arrangements is in the case of my Department's maximum class size guidelines being breached. These guidelines were reached following discussions with the managerial authorities and the INTO and are outlined hereunder:
for a single standard class — maximum of 39 pupils;
for a class of mixing 2 standards — maximum of 38 pupils;
for a class mixing more than 2 standards — maximum of 35 pupils;
one teacher schools with more than 4 standards — maximum of 28 pupils.
