Ms Mai Fanning:

This is something that we have dealt with a number of times. It is arises particularly where a child with special needs is transitioning from primary to post-primary level. That year is sometimes not enough. It puts an awful lot of pressure on a parent to approach a school and to have those discussions in regard to supports for the child and whether or not it is possible for the child to go to a particular school or the child needs to go to a different school or a special school. We have seen this occur a couple of times in terms of that transition. Often, all of the supports that are in place at primary level do not necessarily transition to post-primary level or the particular school the child is to go to. Parents often find that they have to condense all of their decisions and they have to do a great deal of footwork themselves to ascertain whether those supports can be put in place in the school in which the child has been enrolled or in the school into which he or she has been accepted. The decisions could be made within the year but if the process around what might be available for that transition could be started earlier that would possibly alleviate much of the stress.