Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
293. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to meet the diverse and complex needs of students with disabilities and at risk of educational disadvantage with the one programme as they return from three months of schooling from home (details supplied). [12643/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has published details of a summer programme for children with special educational needs enrolled in special schools, special classes and mainstream classes. The programme incorporates some aspects of the July Provision of previous years.
Summer Provision 2020 – Reconnecting with Education, is a significantly expanded programme for children with complex special educational needs which aims to re-establish the child’s relationships and connection with school and their peers as a basis for learning and participation and to help the child to re-engage in learning and social activities and help them adapt to new routines and changes. The programme aims to ensure, in so far as possible, that the child can reintegrate/transition into their planned education setting for the next school year with their peers. In-school or home-based supports by teachers and SNAs will help to prevent regression among children with special needs.
Care needs to be exercised that schools do not, in this initial reconnection period, overly focus on academic catch up and dealing with regression. Students with additional needs require targeted interventions over a sustained period, but this very much should emphasise connection, belonging and wellbeing as a key driver and enabler of learning and participation. A summer education programme will serve as a stepping stone in rebuilding the connection with school before schools reopen in the autumn.
The eligibility criteria has been widened to include the following categories of children:
1. Pupils with a diagnosis of Autism
2. Pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties
3. Any child in a special class or special school
4. Children transitioning into a special class or special school from early year’s settings
5. Pupils in primary school mainstream classes who present with the following disabilities:
- Children with Down syndrome
- Children who are Deaf or most severe hard of hearing
- Children who are blind or have a most severe visual impairment
- Children who have a moderate general learning disability
- Children with severe emotional behavioural difficulties
All special schools and primary schools with special classes are invited to provide the school based summer provision for their students. This programme will run for a minimum of two weeks and can extend up to four weeks where the schools, teachers and Special Needs Assistants are willing to participate.
Home-based provision will be available where a child’s local school is not providing a programme or does not have the capacity to accommodate a child in a planned programme this year. In this situation my Department will provide grant funding towards the engagement by Parents of a registered teacher / SNA to provide home based support for 10 hours a week for 4 weeks.
Guidance documents on programme content have been made available as follows:
https://www.education.ie/en/Parents/Services/summerprovision/home-based-guidance-summer-programme.pdf
https://www.education.ie/en/Parents/Services/summerprovision/summer-camp-programme-teachers-handbook.pdf
https://www.education.ie/en/Parents/Services/summerprovision/reconnecting-with-school-guidance-on-summer-programme.pdf
A dedicated online registration system for families of children with special needs to access Summer Provision is now available on Gov.ie/summerprovision.
Full information on summer provision and its various strands, including guidance information for parents, is available at Gov.ie/summerprovision.
