Results 9,961-9,980 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Delays (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: UN Convention on Children's Rights (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department is committed to ensuring that the views of children are considered and taken into account in allmatters affecting him or her in accordance with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In particular, my Department's Inspectorate listens to the voices of students during inspections as getting their views on the work of schools is an important step in arriving...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Expenditure (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 454 and 459 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has published a Plan for the Implementation the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act. This report, which was published in 2006, made recommendations which suggested that additional investment over a period of years of up to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Uniforms (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the school uniform policy is a matter for each individual school and not my Department. The information sought by the Deputy therefore is not available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department is currently implementing the following strategies: - Department of Education and Skills Strategy Statement 2011 – 2014; Further Education and Training Strategy 2014 - 2019; Ireland's International Education Strategy 2010 -2015 Investing in Global Relationships; National Strategy for Higher Education 2030; Report and Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy;...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The staffing and redeployment arrangements for primary schools for the 2014/15 school year are set out in Circular 0007/2014 and are available on the Department website. The staffing arrangements include the provision where schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts on developing grounds. Such posts are provisionally approved pending...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Uniforms (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. My Department has no plans to introduce legislation to require schools to introduce generic uniforms. The preferred position is to empower parents to have a say in their childrens' schools uniform policy thereby allowing for the maximum choice and diversity. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The ethos of a school is determined by the school's patron. If the school's patron wishes to transfer the patronage of the school to another patron with a different ethos, they may apply to do so under the Education Act , 1998 (section 8 (3)).

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The delivery of the proposed new post-primary school in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan has been devolved to Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board. The project is at the early stages of architectural planning and is on my Department's five year building programme to proceed to tender & construction in 2015/2016.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: During whole school evaluations, inspectors take into consideration the physical environment, school facilities and the use made by schools of material resources provided by this Department. Together with a range of other evidence, this informs their evaluation of the quality of teaching, learning, school leadership and management. When inspectors identify serious shortcomings in relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The selection and enrolment of pupils in schools is the responsibility of the authorities of the individual school. This Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in an area. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. As schools may not have a place...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Educational Welfare Services (EWS) of the Child and Family Agency is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The EWS may be able to offer assistance and advice on securing a school placement. The contact details for the EWS Child and Family Agency Head Office, 16-22 Green Street, Dublin 7, phone number...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My key priority is to continue to prioritise and target resources at schools with the most concentrated levels of disadvantage and given the current economic climate and the ongoing challenge to meet significant targets on reducing public expenditure, there is no capacity to provide for the inclusion of additional schools in DEIS at this time. DEIS is the subject of ongoing evaluation to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: An extensive identification process to select schools for inclusion in DEIS was conducted in 2005. In spite of reminders, a completed survey form was not received at that time from the school concerned and therefore it could not be assessed for participation in DEIS. Further, an appeal mechanism was put in place in 2006 to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The major building project referred to by the Deputy is currently at Stage 2A of Architectural Planning - Developed Sketch Design. The ETB and their Design Team are finalising the Stage 2A report for presentation to my Department. Upon completion of this presentation and submission of the report, subject to no issues arising, this project will be authorised to proceed to Stage 2B - Detailed...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The staffing and redeployment arrangements for primary schools for the 2014/15 school year are set out in Circular 0007/2014 and are available on the Department website. Under these arrangements schools that are given provisional approval for a teaching post on the basis of provisional enrolments in September 2014 must hold open one vacancy to cater for the redeployment of any surplus...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. Where children have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Details of Primary and Post-Primary schools in County Mayo that have rented prefab accommodation, together with the number of rented units in each school is attached for the Deputy's attention. Schools that are included on my Department's 5 Year Capital Programme and Prefab Replacement Initiatives are highlighted, as these will have their temporary accommodation replaced with permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. In this regard a Board of Management may find it necessary to restrict enrolment to children from a particular area or a particular age group or on the basis of some other criterion. The criteria to be applied by schools in such circumstances are a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (11 Nov 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Average class size is not readily calculated on an individual school basis. Below is a link to a spreadsheet that shows the number of pupils in each mainstream class and the number of mainstream class teachers for each primary school in county order. Data refers to 2013/14 school year. The 2014/15 National School Annual Census is currently ongoing.