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Special Educational Needs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022

Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Questions (554)

Jennifer Whitmore

Question:

554. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Education if a request from a school (details supplied) will be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14946/22]

View answer

Written answers

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews.

The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs.  Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school.  SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. 

It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. 

Where circumstances change during the course of the 2021/22 school year that materially increase the level of care need in a school to the extent that the school can clearly demonstrate that it cannot be met within the existing SNA allocation, the school may apply to the NCSE for a review.    Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website https://ncse.ie/for-schools

The NCSE manages the exceptional review process and handles each case individually. Some review requests can be concluded as an office based exercise, whilst others require a school to be visited in order to observe the current deployment of SNA support in the school setting.

The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided.

Where a school is dissatisfied with how their exceptional review has been processed or is dissatisfied with the outcome of their exceptional review they can appeal. Applications for Appeal may be submitted through the NCSE Schools Portal: https://ncse.ie/school-support.

With regards to the school as outlined in the details supplied, the NCSE have confirmed that on 28/01/2022 it received through its online portal an application from the school, for an SNA Exceptional Review. The application has been acknowledged by the NCSE. The application will be examined and the outcome of the review will issue to the school in due course.

My Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

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