Ms ?ine Lynch:

I might leave the second issue for Mr. Rolston to comment on because he has experience at second level. In terms of where the child is in the system, I think it is excellent that the committee is meeting with students later. That is important. We also need to step beyond that and engage with primary school students as well. It is often seen as more challenging, but anybody who has worked with primary school children knows that they have a very significant voice on matters that make a difference to them. We have to make sure that we carry on doing what we are doing today by listening to students, but we must ensure that we are listening to students throughout the whole school system and being guided by their needs. I have heard mention of putting the student at the centre of education. I think we need to go beyond that and say that we accept that the student is at the centre of education. We are not putting them there; they are there. That should become a common way to discuss the matter. If a student is at the centre of their education, then it makes sense that we listen to their views on everything that matters to them.

On how the pilot or model would work, in the UK they cluster schools together. There are also small primary schools there, perhaps not as many as there are here. It is part of the system in the UK. Each cluster covers 7,000 students. The mental health support team covers a cluster of schools, going up to around 7,000 students.

Sometimes secondary schools would be clustered with feeder primary schools as well. This is about how pooling is done. We have some good examples now of how clustering is working here in respect of small schools in particular. The model being developed would be built on. It fits nicely into it.