Results 5,741-5,760 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I will be very happy to keep an open mind and study many of the recommendations it contains.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I thank the Chairman. We will look at all of the positives we have learned from Covid and all of the measures we implemented during the pandemic. It is my intention that we look at all of that information. We will also look at the potential of any measures we are in a position to implement, that have been of benefit to our school communities and our students in particular. That is part of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: We are in a very different scenario now than we were then because we have the vaccines. Between 86% and 87% of our students over the age of 12 have been vaccinated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I make the point on vaccination because we are in a situation in which you do not have to isolate if you are vaccinated. I appreciate the point the Acting Chair makes, however. We will be looking at all of the measures, with a view to learning from them and seeing what potential we have going forward.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I acknowledge and appreciate the Senator's remarks on CLASS. I come from a rural constituency. I am an enormous fan of the smaller rural schools, as I am of all schools, but I appreciate the widest experience of education, which is in the smaller and larger schools. We were very clear in the manner in which we laid out the supports for the schools that it would be weighted in terms of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: A key part of the DEIS Plan was the introduction of a new DEIS identification process based on an objective, statistics based model to determine which schools merit inclusion in the DEIS programme. An extensive body of work has been undertaken in terms of the refinement of this model, based on the latest school enrolment data and data available from Census 2016 under the HP Deprivation Index....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The major building project for Gaelcholáiste Reachrann is to provide a new 600 student school building on the school’s existing site. The project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design. In October 2020, in order to expedite the progression of this major building project my Department authorised Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ETB (DDLETB) and its...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Updated guidance for schools on Practical Steps for the Deployment of Good Ventilation Practices in Schools was provided at the end of May following the work of an expert group that carefully considered the role of ventilation in managing COVID-19. A copy of the guidance is published on the Gov.ie website. The over-arching approach in the Department’s ventilation guidance for schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware there is a broad range of patronage arrangements across the post-primary sector. In the school year 2020/2021, there were 730 post-primary schools in the post-primary sector comprising voluntary secondary schools, ETB schools, community schools and comprehensive schools. In terms of ethos, approximately 50% of post-primary schools are either multi-denominational...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: School secretaries and caretakers are valued members of our school communities and my Department is fully aware of the vitally important role played by them in the running of our schools. I welcome the significant progress that has been made through the WRC in recent days. This builds upon previous recommendations of an independent arbitrator for a cumulative pay increase of 10% between...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 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 €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: School secretaries and caretakers are valued members of our school communities and my Department is fully aware of the vitally important role played by them in the running of our schools. I welcome the significant progress that has been made through the WRC in recent days. This builds upon previous recommendations of an independent arbitrator for a cumulative pay increase of 10% between...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Good ventilation was identified as an important aspect of public health advice on managing Covid-19 risks. The establishment of an Expert Group on the matter, alongside a sub-group of the main Expert Group focussed exclusively on the issue of improving and monitoring ventilation in schools earlier this year underlines this, The outcomes of this work formed the basis for the most recent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has a strong and ambitious rollout of projects under the school building programme to support the operation of the school system particularly in terms of additional capacity requirements. During the NDP period 2018-2020, there were 526 completed building projectsunder the Large Scale Capital Programme and the Additional School Accommodation Scheme. These projects delivered in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The project to provide the permanent building for the school referred to by the Deputy is in early architectural planning which involves site surveys, school design stages and the preparation of statutory applications. As with all school building projects, pre-planning meetings are required with the Local Authority in advance of preparing a Planning Application. This is to ensure the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: On 30 June this year, the Advisory Group on Planning for State Examinations received an update in relation to the 2022 Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations. Following this meeting, I announced that adjustments would be made to the 2022 examinations which are similar to those that were published in December 2020 in respect of Leaving Certificate 2021. The adjustments are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Coming from a rural background, I am very much aware of the huge importance of small schools to communities across Ireland and I have asked my Department to work with the education partners to examine ways to support such schools in their communities and to ensure a more sustainable future for them. In general, small schools are considered to be schools with four teachers or less. There...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to Primary and Post-Primary schools by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance, general up-keep etc. and the Ancillary/School Services Support Fund (SSSF) to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. Schools also receive a range of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The Department is guided by Public Health as to the mitigation measures needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our schools. The aim of all of the Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures that have been put in place for schools is to support schools to operate safely and prevent the introduction of Covid-19 and also the onward of transmission of Covid-19 among the school...