Vol. 534 No. 4
230 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science when a decision will be made on the application by a school (details supplied) in County Kildare for a review of its application for inclusion in the new programme to tackle educational disadvantage at primary level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10952/01]
The Deputy is referring to the new programme, Giving Children An Even Break, which I launched in January to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. Schools participating in the programme are eligible to receive a range of additional supports, including teacher posts and financial supports to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils. The additional supports to be provided reflect the level of concentration of pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in each school invited to participate in the programme.
The school referred to by the Deputy is included in the urban dimension of the new programme. The school will receive supplementary grant aid of £2,614 towards providing additional educational supports for the children concerned in respect of the current school year. The school was not considered eligible for additional teaching staff, based on the level of concentration of at-risk pupils in the schools as reflected in the Educational Research Centre survey outcome.
Where schools expressed concern about the outcome of the survey in respect of their school, they were advised to make representations to my Department outlining their circumstances. Schools were informed that these representations would then be referred to the Educational Research Centre for consideration and the circumstances of these schools would then be further considered by my Department.
In accordance with the approach outlined, representations from the school in question have now been forwarded to the Educational Research Centre. As soon as the ERC has examined the representations and reported to my Department, the school will be informed of the outcome.
