Results 2,001-2,020 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 to 201, inclusive, together. The Department has a large pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. The main elements of this pipeline currently involve 372 large-scale projects and circa. 800 projects for delivery under the Department’s Additional Accommodation Scheme. The pipeline will continue to be monitored to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, 45 new schools have been announced to open between 2019 and 2022 including five new schools to serve Kildare: - a new 8-classroom primary school established in 2019 to serve the Leixlip school planning area; - a new 8-classroom primary school established in 2019 to serve the Maynooth school planning area; - a new 8-classroom primary school to be established in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaelcholáistí Issues (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh Nuad opened in September 2020. The patron has made arrangements to accommodate the school on the grounds of the existing post primary schools in Maynooth.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I am acutely aware of the issues faced by many schools in respect of teacher allocations and class sizes. Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools. Previous budgets of 2016 and 2018 improved the staffing schedule by one point on both occasions to its historically lowest level ever of 1...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 206 and 207 together. Since the arrangements for the establishment of new schools came into effect in 2011, a significant number of new schools have been established under the New Schools Establishment process. When it has been decided that a new school is required to meet a demographic need, a separate process is conducted to establish who will run (i.e. be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The current in-school management structures were agreed and implemented in the late 1990s as a result of the PCW national pay agreement. The allowance payable to principal teachers employed by the managerial authorities of primary schools is an eleven point scale. The allowance for Post Primary Principals is a seventeen point scale. This allowance is paid in addition to the teachers'...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Abuse (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: While the report was launched last Friday the 9th October, my Department is very conscious that survivors will continue to need support into the future. In July 2019, two facilitators employed by the Department published a report on the outcomes of their initial consultations with survivors. It was intended that the consultation would set out the themes and issues to be addressed by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not publish or collate data for specific geographic areas. My Department publishes comprehensive enrolment data on the Department's website, www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individu al-Schools/ with 2019-20 being the most recent year for which data is available. This data can be filtered by school roll number and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently under construction. Construction ceased during the National lockdown and recommenced on site recently. It is anticipated that the project will be complete in Quarter 1 2021.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Emergency Works Scheme (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I would like to inform the Deputy that the school in question has been granted funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme to carry out roof works. As this is a devolved scheme, it is the responsibility of the school authority to progress the works.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. This project is currently at Stage 2(a) of Architectural planning, Developed Design (design development to a stage where the project is fully cost planned and can be prepared to lodge for statutory approvals....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (15 Oct 2020)

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 30th September. The staffing process includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board. This school referred to by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2019/2020 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 181 together. The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The Leaving Certificate system has a well-established practice of not reducing the marks or grades of students who have not appealed their results, but who through an appeal by another student or other systemic check are identified as somebody who received higher marks or grades than were merited. In keeping with that principle, and mindful of the fact that the mistake was not the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The Leaving Certificate system has a well-established practice of not reducing the marks or grades of students who have not appealed their results, but who through an appeal by another student or other systemic check are identified as somebody who received higher marks or grades than were merited. In keeping with that principle, and mindful of the fact that the mistake was not the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: On 03 October I announced that improved Calculated Grades would issue that day to students who received lower Calculated Grades than they should have, as a result of errors that were found in the Calculated Grades process. As a result of rectification of these errors, a total of 6,100 students received higher calculated grades. This breaks down as follows: - 5,408 students received a higher...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: On 1 September, I announced details in relation to the Calculated Grades model following approval of proposals made to Government. The change proposed removed the use of school-by-school historical data in the standardisation model. The use which has been made of Junior Cycle data in the model is set out in detail in the Report of the National Standardisation Group. Individual Junior...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education. Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank...