Results 9,361-9,380 of 19,621 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department's main intervention in the provision of early years education is the Early Start programme. The Early Start programme was established in 1994, and is a one-year intervention to meet the needs of children aged between 3 years and 5 years who are at risk of not reaching their potential within the school system. It involves an educational programme to enhance overall development,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to all recognised schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants which are paid based on the number of students enrolled in the school. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs including heating, lighting etc. and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. These...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Cost of Living Issues (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: I fully appreciate the concerns of teachers and indeed society generally in relation to housing and increases in living costs. The Government acknowledges that current price pressures present particular challenges and are a source of concern for all public service workers, including teachers. While the issue of pay alone will not resolve these issues, the Government is committed to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to recognised Primary and Post Primary schools in the Free Education Scheme 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: Following the commencement of the National Vetting Bureau [ Children and Vulnerable Persons ] Act of 2012 by the then Minister for Justice and Equality on the 29 April 2016 (other than section 20 ) my Department issued Circular 31/2016 to all school Authorities and Education Training Boards advising of the statutory obligations placed on school authorities by the Act to obtain a vetting...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. The Capital Programme details the school projects that are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that funding was approved under the Additional Accommodation Scheme 2021 to enable the school in question to build a 2 Classroom SEN base. The project has been devolved for delivery to the School Authority with the assistance of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB). The school has procured a consultant who will lead the project through the various stages of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (14 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The joint major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. ADAPT is an acronym which stands for the "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering". The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 222 and 223 together. In Ireland, all migrant children, including children of international protection applicants, children of migrant workers and unaccompanied minors, can access primary and post-primary education in a manner similar to Irish nationals, until they have reached the age of 18 years. It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The joint major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. ADAPT is an acronym which stands for the "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering". The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The NDFA is currently undertaking the process of appointment of multi-disciplinary technical advisors (design teams) for these projects. Thereafter, it will ensure that the project progresses to design stage, obtains the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, there is a planned expansion of the capacity of the patronage of the school referred to in the area from 16-classrooms to 32-classrooms. This is linked to a major school building project for a new school building which will facilitate the expansion of another school in the area from 16 classrooms to 32 classrooms. In total, an additional 32 mainstream primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: In March I was glad to be able to announce a major expansion of the DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme which means that, for the first time since 2017, the programme is being significantly expanded and eligible schools will now gain access to targeted supports to address educational disadvantage. This will add an additional €32million to my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The Department’s Wellbeing Policy and Framework for practice has given recognition to the importance of promoting wellbeing in education. The approach set out in the Wellbeing Policy is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Bullying in Educational Institutions (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The Action Plan on Bullying, which was published in January 2013, sets out my Department's approach to tackling bullying and promoting an anti-bullying culture in schools. The Action Plan contains 12 actions that focus on the provision of support for schools, teacher training, research and awareness raising and aims to ensure that all forms of bullying are addressed. A number of these...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The application is currently under assessment by my officials and the school authority will be contacted directly with a decision upon completion of the assessment process.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the last school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 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 €289m in 2021. In July 2022, Government announced...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the last 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. Under the terms of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Sep 2022)

Norma Foley: St David’s CBS in Artane was approved funding under the Summer Works Scheme for the upgrade of the heating system at the school. Following a tender process, the school authority appointed a consultant to progress the project. When the consultant attended the site to conduct survey works related to the proposed heating upgrade project, the consultant advised that a full review and...