My Department has received applications for special educational resources, SER, from the school referred to by the Deputy. The school currently has the services of one full-time resource teacher, one full-time shared learning support teacher and two full-time special needs assistants, SNA. SER applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered at present. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children starting school last September and all these cases were responded to before or soon after the commencement of the current school year.
The balance of more than 4,000 applications has been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the National Educational Psychological Service. These applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year or so. Account is also being taken of the data submitted by schools as part of the recent nationwide census of SER provision.
The processing of the applications is a complex and time consuming operation. However, my Department is endeavouring to have this completed as quickly as possible and my officials will then respond to all applicant schools. Pending a response, schools are advised to refer to circular 24/03, which issued in September 2003. This circular contains practical advice on how to achieve the most effective deployment of resources already allocated for special educational needs within the school.
The arrangements for processing applications received after the 31 August 2003 will be considered in the context of the outcome of discussions on a weighted system of allocation of resource teaching support. A further communication will be sent to schools in this regard.
With regard to accommodation, the Deputy will be aware that the 2004 school building programme is the largest in the history of the State, with over 200 significant school building projects being authorised to proceed to tender and construction in 2004. The details of these projects are available on my Department's website. Furthermore, the budget announcement regarding multi-annual capital envelopes will enable me to adopt a multi-annual framework for the school building programme which in turn will give greater clarity regarding projects that are not progressing in this year's programme. I will make a further announcement in that regard during the year.
Due to general staffing constraints in the public service, it is unlikely that there will be any major expansion in County Kildare during the current school year of the service offered by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. However, schools without access to the NEPS may avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, details of which may be found on my Department's website.