Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 February 2022
420. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Education if consideration will be given to the use of school buildings to facilitate the July provision in the context of the summer provision for children with special needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7504/22]
View answerThe school-based programmes provides a more holistic experience for the pupils and help retain the important connection with school and peers. By offering all primary and post-primary schools the opportunity to run a school-based programme, it is to reduce the need for parents to have to rely on the home-based programme.
However, my Department acknowledges not all schools are in a position to offer a programme. Therefore, a home-based programme is made available for students with complex special educational needs where a place on a school-based programme is not available to them.
Under the home-based strand where the school is not available to open to run a summer programme, parents engage the services of a teacher or an SNA in a private arrangement. Parents can utilise their allocated hours over the summer holidays and with the flexibility to use the hours on non-consecutive weeks which best suits their needs.
Preliminary work has commenced on the 2022 summer programme. The aim for this year is to make the programmes as accessible as possible, particularly to continue attract more schools to run the school-based programme, but also to make the overall experience simpler for parents, teachers and schools. As part of the consultation and planning process my Department will be looking at what worked well in 2021 and what can be improved on for 2022.
