Vol. 506 No. 4
16 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Science the correspondence, if any, he has received from the chairperson of the board of management of Grangecon primary school, County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15512/99]
I can confirm that I have received correspondence from the board of management of Grangecon national school. The board has asked for the retention of the second mainstream teacher, and has also sought sanction for the appointment of a resource teacher.
The staffing of primary schools is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year. This is in accordance with long-standing guidelines agreed between this Department and the education partners.
The current staffing of Grangecon national school is a principal and two mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 56 as at 30 September 1997. The enrolment as at 30 September 1998, on which the staffing for the 1999-2000 school year is based, was 49 pupils. Unfortunately, this does not meet the retention requirement for the second teacher despite the fact that the retention figures were reduced in the 1999-2000 staffing schedule.
In relation to the application for a resource teacher, the Deputy will be aware that I recently announced a major new initiative in the special education area under which all children in the primary system assessed as having special needs arising from a disability will be entitled to an automatic response to those needs.
The level and nature of the response in each case will depend on the assessed needs of the child or group of children involved. The response may take the form of a full or part-time resource teacher or child care support depending on the number of children involved and the nature of the needs.
An application has been received from the school in question and my Department's inspectorate has been requested to investigate the level of need in the school. A decision on this request will be made as soon as the Inspectors report has been received in my Department.
