Mr. Tom?s ? Ruairc:

On the numbers attending the webinar versus the overall number of teachers and so forth, it is important to recognise that as regards the REALT structure I referred to, there is one for every ETB in the country. Each of those has a National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, representative on it. There is close liaison between the REALT co-ordinators, the schools in each area and the NEPS representative in that area. NEPS also has one direct relationship with schools to help them pick up on things. In addition to the established relationship NEPS has with schools, where acute needs are identified, as the Deputy said, it is also acknowledging the impact of the war and trauma children have experienced in the early stages, which, of course, has become worse over time because the war has been going on much longer. To put it in context, the number is 1,500 across a number of schools. There could be a couple of teachers per school, but it is only one example of a suite of supports.

From the beginning, we have been very careful to be very cognisant of the impact of the trauma of war. For example, in the area of special educational needs, SEN, the advice to schools both from the SEN and psychology sides of the house was that trauma would have a significant impact on assessment need at the early stages. It was about adopting, as schools did, in fairness to them, a very humane approach of not rushing to do A, B, and C, but letting children settle in and so on, and providing a welcoming environment, which schools have done.

Webinars offered at the beginning were also offered in an asynchronous manner subsequently. There is live attendance but we can also make a webinar available to colleagues so it is up there to be accessed. There is also another series of webinars, Welcoming Children to our Schools; the training for school staff to build resilience for all; and the regional teacher support sessions where teachers can engage with NEPS and issues regarding newcomer children. There is also training for schools on embracing diversity, which will be available in the next academic year and a psychological first aid response course delivered during Covid has been translated into Ukrainian, Russian and, more recently, Arabic and Turkish.

The Deputy made a very important point on the online curriculum. We again work closely with schools, through the REALT structures in particular, to make sure they provide that kind of graduated integration of pupils into their schools. Number one, it is about a welcoming environment, and allowing children to settle and form peer relationships. The Deputy will appreciate that depending on the age of the young person involved, for those in the more senior years, from ages 16 to 18, who have recently arrived, and due to curricular differences from Ukraine, we tend to have more of a focus on finishing their Ukrainian education through the online schools referred to. However, based on some work done by the inspectorate, in the early stages in particular, we generally identified a greater emphasis on school engagement in primary education. That was understood at that point in time and it is continuing to evolve. There are easily approximately 1,000 young people in fifth year who will go into sixth year next year and, it is expected, will have their eyes on the leaving certificate.

We have been working very closely with stakeholders and school management bodies to make sure of matters from a wellbeing point of view. A very careful balance needs to be struck. One of the key principles is that connectedness to children's sense of self and sense of culture. We engaged with the Ukrainian ministry of education on the all-Ukrainian online school at the early stages of the outbreak of the war. That ministry was keen that children would have access to an online curriculum but was also conscious that those children were in another country and they wanted to integrate and so on. It was about trying to get that balanced message. Where we have identified some potential unintended negative impacts, and it was well-intentioned to have the engagement with both approaches, we will look at our guidance to schools. We issued guidance to schools twice on this. Initially, there was holding guidance in September last year, which was updated in December to take account of the evolving situation. It was looked at very closely again through the inspectorate to have new guidance ready for September. A year and a half has passed for many children. At the same time, there are children whose day zero will be today and tomorrow and they will want the same kind of response at the beginning. We are trying to adopt a rolling, layered approach, making sure, as the Deputy pointed out, that the wellbeing of children and young people is of principal importance.

It is a suite and network of connectedness at both local and national level, and taking account of the evolving situation.