This submission will focus on outlining proposed changes in the regulations to establish a primary school, providing an update on progress made in developing and rolling out the new model of VEC patronage of primary schools, and stating the current position regarding the proposal by Educate Together to become the patron body for secondary schools.
On the proposed changes in the regulations to establish a primary school, a full review of the criteria and procedures for the recognition and establishment of new primary schools is currently being undertaken by the Commission on school accommodation. This review was announced by the Minister in September of last year. It is expected that the review will be completed and recommendations made to the Minister by the commission before the end of 2009. The Minister is also giving consideration to a range of issues concerning the establishment of new schools at post-primary level. I will deal with that in more detail later in my submission to the committee.
In the interim, it is not the Minister's intention to recognise new schools, except in areas where the increase in pupil numbers cannot be catered for by extending existing schools and where new schools are therefore warranted.
This means that new schools will not be established for reasons unrelated to demographic growth in areas where there is already sufficient school accommodation or where increases in pupil numbers can be catered for by extending existing school accommodation. While the review is ongoing, it is proposed that the Department will identify the areas where new schools are required based on detailed examination and analysis of the demographics of each area. These details will be circulated to all existing patron bodies and it will be open to those patrons to put themselves forward as patrons for any such new school. This process is already under way. The patron bodies were notified of these details in the past two weeks and there will be further discussions between the patrons and the Department on this matter in respect of specific areas of the country in the coming weeks and months.
This review does not mean there will be a complete cessation of the school building programme outside areas of rapid growth. In addition to the establishment of new schools in areas of rapid population growth, the normal building programme of modernising, replacing or extending existing schools will continue.
The steering group of the commission consists of representatives of all the partners in education and officials from the Department of Education and Science. The technical working group is a small expert group appointed to undertake the full review of the criteria and procedures for the recognition of new schools. The technical working group will prepare reports and recommendations for consideration by the overall steering group, which will then submit a final report and recommendations of the commission to the Minister. The first meeting of the groups took place in December 2008 and a number of meetings have been held since.
It is timely to review the criteria and procedures for the recognition of primary schools, given the changes that have taken place since the commission on school accommodation first began its work in 1998, in particular, changes in population growth and demands on the Exchequer. There also must be a correlation between the start-up of a new school and the capacity to provide appropriate accommodation. The term of office of the new schools advisory committee, NSAC, expired in August 2008. It is important that the policies and procedures for establishing new schools are brought fully up to date and that they are appropriate to meet the significant increase in the number of primary school pupils which we expect in the next five to ten years. The NSAC's terms of reference were originally drafted in 1998 and now need to be overhauled and updated to reflect current demographics. We must ensure we have a transparent and robust system for recognising new primary schools that will be appropriate for the changing circumstances.
Matters such as the minimum numbers of pupils required for the commencement of new schools, as well as a wide range of broad policy issues on school patronage and the approach to diversity of provision, must be carefully considered. There is no question, however, as has been suggested, that the review is intended to examine the number of small schools with a view to closures. The issue relating to numbers in so far as the review is concerned relates solely to the number of pupils required to establish a new school.