Results 10,721-10,740 of 19,621 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The provision of counselling and therapeutic services in Ireland for children and young people is led by the Department of Health, through HSE Primary Care Psychology for low to moderate mental health difficulties and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for more severe mental health difficulties. My Department signposts schools and students to the HSE-funded mental health...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: Planning permission for the Secondary School to which the Deputy refers has been granted and phase 1 of the building is currently under construction. It is anticipated that the school will occupy the building in late August. There is no building project under way or planned for the primary school to which the Deputy refers. My Department will shortly be applying for a further planning...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation Scheme (ASA) from the school in question.  The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: In reference to the interim site to which the deputy refers, work is under way and the Department will be making a Section 5 application to the relevant local authority this week.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I announced on the 9th March that from next September the DEIS programme will be extended to an additional 310 schools. 37 schools will also benefit from additional supports following reclassification. Schools were identified for inclusion in the programme through the refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics based model. Schools were not required to apply for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: As provided in response to Parliamentary Question No. 947, the Department provides support to heritage language speakers at Primary level including: - through the primary languages curriculum which provides for a diversity of languages spoken in our primary schools - through "Say Yes to Languages", the primary languages sampler module All Primary schools in the country have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Meetings (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware responsibility for delivering a major project for the school in question has been devolved to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board (DDLETB). The Department of Education originally approved (in 2012) the construction of a standalone extension of just over 4,000 m2 in area to include a 2-classroom Special Education needs base. Some works to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware responsibility for delivering a major project for the school in question has been devolved to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board (DDLETB). The Department of Education originally approved (in 2012) the construction of a standalone extension of just over 4,000 m2 in area to include a 2-classroom Special Education needs base. Some works to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: Following extensive stakeholder consultation, new L1 and L2 specifications for Junior Cycle Irish were introduced in September 2017. Due the disruption to learning and cancellation of the summer 2020 and 2021 Junior Cycle examinations as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic it was not possible for students to engage with the final assessment component which is set by the State Examinations...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The terms and conditions of the Career Break Scheme for teachers are contained in my Department’s Circular Letter 54/2019 (Chapter 7). A Career Break is a period of unpaid special leave for not less than 1 school year. It may be extended on an annual basis provided the total period of the Career Break does not exceed 5 years at any one time, subject to an overall maximum of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Welfare Service (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: A commitment was made under the Programme for Government to ensure robust data collection on the use of reduced school days and to further ensure that they are only used in a manner that is limited, appropriate and absolutely necessary. My Department issued guidelines to schools on reduced school days in September 2021 which came into effect from 1st January 2022. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the Indecon report on career guidance tools and information was published in 2019.  Since then, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) has been established and both it and the Department of Education have been dealing with the impact of Covid-19, so work on implementation of the recommendations set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Transport (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: In accordance with the terms of the Guidelines for Ministerial Appointments for the 33rd Dáil, as published by the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, I have two civilian drivers to assist me in carrying out my ministerial duties. The Minister of State in my Department also has two civilian drivers. These drivers are paid in line with the relevant salary scale for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. For the 2022/23 school year, the staffing schedule for primary schools has been improved by one point and schools will be provided with class teachers on the basis of 1 teacher for every...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. It acts in the interests of the public good while upholding and enhancing standards in the teaching profession. Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015, the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021. The National Council for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 382 and 383 together. As the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (16 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The specific information requested by the deputy is not readily available; however, in this sphere my Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification. Schools that are designed and built...