Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do appreciate the points made in terms of larger schools. There was an acknowledgement of that, especially in the Covid-19 measures. Additional days would be made available to teaching principals and additional resources were being put in place as much as possible. Certainly, this is an area I would look at.

The same applies equally in terms of students coming from overseas and the need for English as an additional language and all of that. I am absolutely conscious of that.

The Chairman asked about DEIS band 1 schools. Again, I will reiterate what I have said. There will be a reduction from 24:1 to 23:1. The Chairman asked about junior and vertical schools. What I have said is that we are currently looking at a suite of measures in terms of a DEIS package. There will be several initiatives within that package that will be announced, hopefully prior to Christmas. That is what I am aiming for. I am giving consideration to it at that point.

I will reiterate what I said to the Senator about calculated grades and changes to the leaving certificate. I am conscious that for 2021, notwithstanding that we are in a pandemic and so on and provided public health advice prevails, we are working towards the traditional leaving certificate. Any other changes will be a matter of engagement and discussion and so on. To be fair, there has been positive endorsement of the traditional leaving certificate as we know it. In the short term that is the aim and target for 2021.