Vol. 530 No. 6
421 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the assistance, grant or otherwise available to a primary school (details supplied) in County Westmeath which wishes to undertake a number of initiatives under the disadvantaged heading but which has received a grant of only £6,700 from his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4609/01]
Earlier this month I launched a major new programme to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. The new programme will be run over a three-year period and will cost some £26 million. The programme involves the creation of 204 new primary teaching posts and the allocation of cash grants to primary schools in respect of disadvantaged pupils.
Schools invited to participate in the new programme were identified through a survey of educational disadvantage in primary schools carried out by the Educational Research Centre for my Department last year.
Schools participating in the new programme are eligible to receive a range of additional supports to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils over the three year period of the programme. The additional supports to be provided reflect the level of concentration of pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in each school invited to participate in the programme. A key condition of participation in the new programme is that the additional resources must be used for the provision of a range of holistic supports for pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds.
The school in question has been included in the urban dimension of the new programme, the school will receive supplementary grant aid of £6,782 in respect of the current school year towards providing additional educational sup-ports for the children concerned, and a similar amount in each of the next two years. It did not, however, rank sufficiently high in terms of the level of disadvantaged pupils to receive additional teaching posts under this phase of the programme.
Primary schools receive per capita grant funding towards the running costs of the school from my Department. In general, the disbursement of these funds is a matter for the school management authority in line with priorities set by each school.
