Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Status.
Jack Wall
Question:
644
Mr. Wall
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the progress made to date in regard to the implementation of the RAPID programme for Athy; the amount of money made available for the implementation of the programme from his Department for Athy; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20799/03]
The RAPID programme is designed to harness the opportunities and resources of the national development plan, NDP, through the frontloading and prioritisation of investment to the 45 most deprived communities in the country – 25 urban areas and 20 provincial towns. This does not involve additional funding to that being provided under the NDP.
The area implementation team in Athy has submitted five proposals under the RAPID programme. The current position on each proposal is outlined below:
Ke-Athy-001 concerns the construction of a new community college in Athy. The 2003 schools building programme was published earlier in the year and full details in relation to individual projects are available on the Department's website atwww.education.ie. This project is included in section 7, large-scale post primary projects that are at an early stage of architectural planning.
The current position is that a stage 1 – site suitability, briefing and site report – submission has been sent to the Department by County Kildare VEC for examination and approval. This submission will be considered as soon as possible and a letter will issue to the chief executive officer. However, as stated in the building programme, projects at the early stage of architectural planning will not be authorised to proceed beyond their current stage of architectural planning in 2003. Further progress will be considered in the context of the allocation for the 2004 schools building programme.
Ke-Athy-002 concerns home-school liaison for Scoil Mhichil Naofa primary school and St. Patrick's CBS. The home-school-community liaison scheme was last expanded in September 1999. This expansion included any remaining schools designated as disadvantaged that did not have a home-school-community liaison service. There are no plans at present to expand this scheme but in the event of any future expansion of the home-school-community liaison scheme, the needs of Scoil Mhichil Naofa and St. Patrick's CBS will be fully considered.
Ke-Athy-003 concerns the Early Start programme for Scoil Mhichil Naofa primary school. This proposal relates to the early start pre-school pilot project. The early start project, which was launched in 1994, is currently in place in 40 selected schools in disadvantaged areas. The project is aimed at children, aged between three and four years, who are considered to be most at risk of not reaching their potential. It provides young children with an educational programme that will enhance their overall development and lay a foundation for successful educational attainment in future years.
The question of developing and funding particular pre-school initiatives or the extension of the Early Start project to additional schools will be considered by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education. This centre, which was established in 2001, has been established to co-ordinate developments in the early education sector on behalf of the Department on foot of the White Paper on early childhood education, Ready to Learn, 1999. It will be involved,inter alia, in developing targeted interventions on a pilot basis for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and children with disabilities, building on the experience of existing programmes. This RAPID proposal has been sent to the centre for its consideration in this context.
Ke-Athy-012 concerns expanded Kildare Youth Service activity for Athy youth. The Athy youth project received an allocation of €69,479 in 2002 under the special projects for youth scheme. This allocation has been increased to €70,174 in 2003. Due to the large number of existing commitments in the youth sector, it was not possible to provide any additional funding for the Athy youth project this year.
Ke-Athy-017 concerns the application for the inclusion of Athy in the school completion programme. The school completion programme, SCP, which was launched in 2002, incorporates the learning experience and best practice derived from previous early school leaving initiatives and assimilates the existing eight to 15 early school leaver initiative, ESLI, and the stay-in school retention initiative at second level, SSRI. Athy community college, which is one of the schools in Athy seeking admission to SCP, is already in the SSRI.
The objective of the school completion programme is to provide a range of interventions in areas of disadvantage that support the retention of young people in education. Eligible schools were selected on the basis of their retention rates from the Department's post-primary pupil database. This analysis also identified the main feeder primary schools and these did not include those primary schools located in Athy.
