Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words following “Dáil Éireann” and insert the following: “notes that:

— the Minister for Education and Skills has obtained Government approval for a comprehensive range of measures to support the full reopening of schools in time for the start of the new school year;

— these measures and the financial support to underpin the measures are necessary to:

— enable schools to prepare for reopening, including making adjustments to the physical arrangements and layout of classrooms as necessary;

— implement enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures in line with public health requirements in all schools;

— recruit additional staffing resources to support the safe and sustained reopening of schools in a Covid-19 context; and

— support school leaders to implement Covid-19 measures;

— the Roadmap for the Return to Schools has now been published alongside the details of the financial supports of more than €370 million with further funding for sanitisation and personal protective equipment (PPE) to be available for reopening schools in accordance with previous commitments given in the House to do so by the end of this month;

— significant additional funding has been secured to specifically provide at primary level for:

— an enhanced Minor Works Grant to support full implementation of Covid-19 response plans;

— the employment of an aide to help with the school reopening logistics;

— increased management support for schools, to allow for additional release days for principals and deputy principals;

— the extension of the current pilot supply panel for substitute teachers on a nationwide basis; and

— additional financial supports to provide for additional cleaning, hand hygiene and PPE costs under the Covid-19 response plans;

— significant additional funding has also been secured to specifically provide at postprimary level for:

— a new Minor Works Grant to post-primary schools to support full implementation of Covid-19 response plans;

— the employment of an aide to help with the school reopening logistics;

— 1,080 additional teaching posts, including 120 guidance posts;

— enhanced supervision supports; and

— additional financial supports for schools to cover additional cleaning, hand hygiene and PPE costs under Covid-19 response plans;

— the Minister for Education and Skills plans a communication campaign during August for students, parents and the school community to support the safe reopening of schools; and

— the Minister recognises that promoting the wellbeing of our school communities is a fundamental element of the overall plan to ensure a successful return to school and which will include the restoration of guidance supports in schools by providing 120 guidance posts and an increase in the number of National Educational Psychological Service psychologists to support schools; and

further notes:

— that in preparing the Roadmap for the Return to School the engagement with stakeholders, which had been ongoing since the closure of schools in March, intensified and focused on plans for reopening schools following receipt of the ‘Interim Recommendations for the reopening of schools and educational facilities’ from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre which was published on 1st July, and which allowed the Department of Education and Skills, working in conjunction with bodies representing school management, staff, student and parents, to develop consistent plans, advice, protocols and guidance across the system to allow schools and staff to return as safely as possible;

— the successful delivery of an enhanced summer programme of educational support to children with the greatest needs with:

— 245 schools participating in the summer-based programme for children with complex needs, benefiting 3,900 students;

— 10,604 parents registering for the home-based summer programme, benefiting 11,350 students;

— 231 schools participating in the Literacy and Numeracy Summer Camp in Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) primary schools, benefiting an expected 7,600 students; and

— 81 schools participating in the DEIS post-primary summer-based programme, benefiting an expected 2,700 students; and

— that these programmes are providing a crucial stepping stone in rebuilding the connection between students and their schools before they return more fully in the autumn as there is a particular focus on re-establishing relationships, building connections, meeting emotional needs and re-engaging in routines to support participation and learning.”

I am happy to be here to address directly the motion put forward by Sinn Féin as it gives me another opportunity to highlight the comprehensive plan, the roadmap to the reopening of our schools, which I published yesterday, following Cabinet approval. The interests of students and their families as well as the safety of the staff in the sector have been the paramount considerations throughout as the challenges before us from Covid-19 have been worked through. Coming from an education sector background, and as a regular contributor to the debates on education in the Dáil before becoming Minister for Education, I was keenly aware of the interest in education but also the concerns and at times the anxieties of students, their families, their school communities and, more generally, how those challenges were being addressed.

Since my appointment as Minister, the number one priority for me, Government, my Department and the wider schools sector has been to reopen our schools fully and safely at the start of the new school year. We said that in reopening our schools we would be guided by the available public health advice and comprehensive engagement with stakeholders, including the school management bodies and staff representatives, as well as students and parents. There has never been any doubt but that I as Minister, my Department, school leaders and staff all want to see schools reopen as normal in the new school year in late August and into September based on their normal timeframes.

Yesterday I brought proposals to Cabinet which outlined a comprehensive funding package and plan to provide the necessary supports and clear guidance for primary and post-primary schools to return safely in the new term. I also sought approval to publish a roadmap for the full return to schools, described yesterday by An Taoiseach as the most comprehensive and detailed sectoral plan he has seen. Cabinet agreed to both, and I was able to publish the roadmap yesterday together with details of the €375 million-plus in additional funding necessary to support the roadmap.

The motion from Sinn Féin before the House calls for a roadmap. We have delivered the roadmap. The Deputies were aware that it was my intention to publish such a roadmap by the end of this month. That has been the intention for the last number of weeks. My colleagues in Government and I have always recognised that schools would need to be supported to reopen. The roadmap I published outlines a comprehensive range of measures being provided to support the full reopening of schools in time for the start of the new school year in late August, early September. The roadmap was developed following intensive engagement with stakeholders from the education sector, including staff unions of teachers, SNAs, school caretakers and secretaries, representatives of principals and deputy principals, school management bodies and representatives of parents and post-primary students.

The roadmap and the funding package recognise the challenges faced by schools in ensuring the safe return of more than 1 million students and approximately 100,000 staff in 4,000 schools in the context of Covid-19. It sets out clear plans and practical guidance on the measures schools will need to take to operate safely and minimise the risk of the introduction and spread of infection in schools.

The roadmap and its accompanying documentation provides schools with guidance on training, checklists for schools on preparing for reopening and guidance for operating schools safely in a Covid context. It advises on areas across logistics, curriculum, teaching, managing school activities, supporting pupils with additional needs, administration and well-being. In other words, it is a comprehensive plan.

My Department has prepared a suite of support materials for schools, including guidance on curriculum, well-being of students, well-being of staff as well as protocols for minimising the risk of spread of infection in schools. In addition, I also published template Covid-19 response plans for schools. These plans provide clear and practical guidance and support to schools on the range of measures that need to be put in place to bring everyone back to school safely.

The funding supports are comprehensive across a wide range of areas. There will be funding for replacement staff for those who cannot come to school as they are at very high risk of Covid-19. This includes teaching staff, special needs assistants and administrative staff. This can occur where staff members who are identified in line with HSE guidance as at very high risk of Covid-19 are advised to cocoon. Funding for additional supply panels at primary level is provided for. This will ensure more certainty around the availability of substitutes for primary schools. Also in the package is funding for more than 1,000 additional teachers at post-primary level to help with physical distancing and class sizes. This will include 120 additional guidance posts. There will be funding to provide release days for teaching principals at primary level to meet the administrative burden arising from the changes and the impacts of Covid-19. This will mean that all teaching principals will have one release day per week and this is something which I am particularly pleased to be able to deliver as I consider it an essential support to reduce the burden on these principals. In addition, there will be some release time for deputy principals in primary schools. Enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures are particularly important and the additional funding being provided will enable schools to have daily cleaning arrangements and to purchase supplies of hand sanitiser and any other personal protective equipment, PPE, necessary. There is also funding for enhanced supervision, which is a key control measure to support schools in minimising interaction of students from different classes, in line with public health advice. Funding will be provided to support school leadership, especially principals, in getting the schools ready. All schools will be able to employ an aide to help get the school ready. As announced in the July stimulus package, funding of €75 million will support minor capital works for all schools.

As I said, reopening schools is a priority for Government and has been my priority since becoming Minister for Education and Skills. In preparing for the reopening of schools, we know that most students, and indeed their families and school staff, will be looking forward to going back, reconnecting with school, reconnecting with staff and friends and settling back into school work. There is a strong emphasis in the roadmap on safety, and on practical arrangements, but also on ensuring the well-being of the students and of the entire staff community.

One of the key elements to ensuring that schools once they reopen can remain open is to prevent the Covid-19 virus from getting into a school in the first instance. This will mean students, their families and staff playing their roles in keeping the virus out of their school by ensuring those who have symptoms or suspect they have the virus stay out of school, by maintaining best practice in terms of hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette in school and by minimising social contacts and respecting physical distancing practices.

Reopening our schools is not just a matter of achieving a certain minimum physical distancing. It is about getting students re-engaged fully with learning and socialising with their peers. For some it will be about preparing for examinations, for others it will involve transitioning to school life or to a different level in terms of moving from primary to post-primary. Students need the support of their families, teachers and school staff in readjusting to school life and physical learning environments again.

It is realistic to predict that all students, parents, teachers and other school staff will experience a broad range of feelings as part of the return to school. This may include a mixture of excitement, happiness and relief but may also include anxiety and fear. This is understandable given these circumstances and there is a response in place to support the well-being of our school communities as part of the planning to return to school.

I can assure the House that there is full engagement with the education stakeholders and that everyone is committed to supporting schools to prepare at a local level for their reopening. There will also be comprehensive communication with students and parents so that they are fully informed over the coming weeks. That information campaign has already commenced. My Department is providing dedicated and direct contact channels to schools so that where issues might arise they can be resolved quickly. Government has provided a comprehensive plan and supports to ensure we can reopen our schools but we must all continue to work together to achieve the goal of seeing our schools reopen.

I am the first to acknowledge the support and engagement of my counterpart in Northern Ireland on matters vitally important to our sectors. However, it is worth noting that, North of the Border, return to school guidance was issued by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland on 24 June setting out plans to reopen on 24 August to certain year groups. It is expected that some schools will only be able to return partially with a minimum standard of blended learning. This will include a minimum 40% face-to-face learning in primary and perhaps 50% in post-primary. No additional funding has yet been committed to support schools in their preparations for reopening. Detailed guidance has yet to issue on curriculum, transport and well-being measures as well as catering, risk assessments and human resources management.

The Sinn Féin motion suggests that the summer programmes have fallen far short of Government announcements. In fact, the number of participating schools and students and the eligibility for those programmes exceeds previous years. Deputies may wish to note that 245 schools are participating in the summer-based programme for children with complex needs, benefiting 3,900 students. These programmes are providing a crucial stepping stone in rebuilding the connection between students and their schools before they return more fully in the autumn as there is a particular focus on re-establishing relationships, building connections, meeting emotional needs and re-engaging in routines to support participation and learning.

As the Taoiseach reiterated today, since coming into office, this Government has been working tirelessly on reopening our society and the reopening of our schools is a vital part of that. Government has committed the necessary supports and funding to the schools sector. Therefore, I ask this House to reject the Sinn Féin motion and to support my countermotion which recognises the work undertaken by Government, my Department and the education partners working in collaboration to develop the roadmap to reopen our schools and over the coming weeks to see it delivered successfully.

As I said in the Seanad earlier today, these are changed times. As a country we have stood up to the challenges before us and we have seen great resilience, tremendous community spirit and a shared responsibility to contribute to the fight against the virus. We are now committed to reopening our society in every sense and the schools sector is now preparing to get our students back into classrooms in the coming weeks. Government is fully committed to supporting that return and has shown the scale of that commitment in the support package announced yesterday. I know Deputies in this House will support our students, our schools and our communities in getting back to school as normal in the coming weeks.

Faoi mar a bhí riamh, ní neart go cur le chéile.

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