Written Answers Nos. 543-556
543. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of one-teacher primary schools, with 19 pupils in 2014/2015; and if she will provide a tabular breakdown, by relevant county and local authority area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8023/15]
View answer544. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of two-teacher primary schools, with 53 to 55 pupils in 2014/2015; and if she will provide a tabular breakdown, by relevant county and local authority area. [8024/15]
View answer545. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of three-teacher primary schools, with 83 to 85 pupils in 2014/2015; and if she will provide a tabular breakdown, by relevant county and local authority area. [8025/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 543 to 545, inclusive, together.
The number of pupils and teachers in individual schools is provided in the National School Annual Census. Results from the census for the current school year (2014/2015) are being finalised at present. A provisional list of the number of pupils and teachers in each school for 2014/15 will be published on the Department's website in mid March. A list of all schools and their pupil and teacher numbers for 2013/14 are available on my Department's website at the following link http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individual-Schools/Class-Size-2013-2014.xls.
548. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the decision to decline the application for assistive technology in respect of a child ( details supplied) in County Cork. [8078/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides funding to schools towards the cost of assistive technology for pupils in Primary, Post Primary and Special schools for personal computers and specialist software for educational purposes under the Assistive Technology scheme, as set out in my Department's Circular 0010/2013.
This Circular states that equipment is provided under this scheme for children with more complex disabilities who require essential specialist equipment to access the school curriculum, which they do not already have, or which cannot be provided for them through the schools existing provisions.
Following consideration of information which has been provided by the school in relation to the application for equipment for the pupil in question, I can advise the Deputy that the equipment which has been applied for is already available to the pupil. As such, the application does not meet the criteria for the allocation of support under my Department's Assistive Technology scheme.
549. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way the parents of children due to complete their primary education at the autistic unit in a school (details supplied) should progress, in respect of second level education, in view of the fact that they have been unable to secure places in adjoining schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8092/15]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that this Government is committed to ensuring that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network.
Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers, with the support of special needs assistants and the appropriate school curriculum.
Young people with autism transitioning from primary school placements have a number of alternative options including mainstream placement in post primary school with support, placement in a special class in a mainstream school or placement in a special class in a special school.
The Deputy will also be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants to schools to support students with Special Educational Needs including Autism. It is also the role of the NCSE to make appropriate arrangements to establish special classes in schools in various geographical areas as required.
SENOs engage with schools annually in order to plan for, and to open, new special classes each year in order to ensure there are sufficient special class placements available at primary and post primary school level to meet demand in a given area.
With regard to post primary placement options for children with autism in the area referred to by the Deputy, the NCSE is actively engaged with parents and schools in the area on the various options.
550. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if extra special needs assistant hours will be approved in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8119/15]
View answer552. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if extra special needs assistant hours will be approved in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8135/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 550 and 552 together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. Where children have significant care needs to the extent that they need additional support to be able to attend school, the NCSE may make an allocation of SNA support to the school to assist that child.
The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
All schools have been asked to apply to the NCSE for SNA support for the 2015/16 school year by 18th March, 2015.
The NCSE will consider all applications for SNA support which have been made by schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy. Allocations for SNA support will then be made to qualifying schools. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Schools who wish to appeal the level of SNA allocation which has been made to them may do so via the appeals process which is set out at www.ncse.ie.
Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.
551. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to the land where a proposed national school (details supplied) in County Cork was to be built but later abandoned for planning reasons, if her Department has sold this land; when and to whom the land was sold; the purchase and sale prices for the land; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8128/15]
View answerThe Department did not complete the purchase of land in the area referred to by the Deputy. The acquisition of this site was subject to planning permission being obtained. Contracts were rescinded on the basis that, subsequent to an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, planning permission was not granted.
553. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the education and training board has ceased its sponsorship of a community arts project (details supplied) in Dublin 11; and if she will review this decision, in view of the invaluable contribution this project makes to the community. [8142/15]
View answerI understand that this query relates to a Community Employment (CE) project which is funded by the Department of Social Protection and managed by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB). I have asked the CDETB to contact the Deputy directly to clarify the position, however it is a matter for the Department of Social Protection to consider the allocation of places within the CE scheme.
554. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she will take for parents in relation to their children being in the catchment area for a junior school in Malahide, County Dublin, but excluded from the catchment area in relation to national schools, from second class onwards, and from secondary education; and the further steps she will take to resolve this. [8162/15]
View answerIt is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. The enrolment policy must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants.
This Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.
Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year.
The Educational Welfare Service of the Child and Family Agency (EWS) is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The EWS can be contacted at 01-8738700.
For school planning purposes the country is divided into geographic districts known as feeder areas each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. These defined districts facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs.
The Deputy will be aware that Government gave approval in March last year for drafting the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2014. The Bill is currently at an advanced stage of drafting and is on the Government legislative programme for publication early in the Spring/Summer session.
The objective of the Admissions to School Bill is to provide an over-arching framework to ensure that how schools decide on who is enrolled and who is refused a place in schools is more structured, fair and transparent. The framework also proposes a mechanism for ensuring that every child receives a school place.
A key objective in designing the framework is to create greater confidence for parents that the admission criteria laid down by schools are legitimate, reasonable and fair.
556. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills if students who are educated in the North of Ireland and who undertake A level examinations, yet who reside in the South of Ireland, will be accepted onto the higher education access route admissions scheme, when applying through the Central Applications Office for college places for autumn 2015; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that hundreds of students from the South attend school in the Six Counties, and would hugely benefit from participation in the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8211/15]
View answerThe Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) is a college and university admissions scheme which offers places on reduced points and extra college support to school leavers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The scheme is operated by a number of higher education institutions and not by my Department. Admissions to the institutions are regulated by the institutions themselves.
I have been informed by the HEAR/DARE Steering Group that HEAR was developed to target students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds attending secondary school (i.e. sitting the Irish Leaving Certificate) and residing in the Republic of Ireland. HEAR is the primary mechanism through which participating HEIs reach national targets, identified by the Higher Education Authority (based on Republic of Ireland data and research), which points to particular socio-economic groups being under-represented relative to their share of the Republic of Ireland's population as a whole.
The six indicators employed by HEAR to identify eligible students are all Republic of Ireland proxies for long-term socio-economic disadvantage. Consequently students educated and resident outside the Republic of Ireland cannot meet the eligibility criteria for the HEAR scheme. This policy was agreed by all participating HEAR institutions when HEAR was established in 2009. It is acknowledged that there is an anomaly regarding students who are for example, resident in the Republic of Ireland and attending secondary school in Northern Ireland and sitting A-Levels. This has been brought to the attention of the DARE HEAR Steering Group and National Policy Group. This will not result in any changes to the HEAR scheme for students applying for entry in 2015 as the terms, conditions and criteria for application were published in August 2014. To date no correspondence or complaint has been received (by the DARE HEAR Shared Services Unit or HEAR HEIs) from third level applicants or parents of applicants residing in Northern Ireland or the border counties on this matter, or from any schools in Northern Ireland. The position of A-Level applicants resident in the Republic of Ireland will be reviewed for those students applying to higher education in 2016.
Individual students who have queries on this matter can contact HEAR Higher Education Institutions directly. The Deputy may wish to contact the Irish Universities Association in this instance.
