Results 1,721-1,740 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (6 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: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: Keeping schools open is a key priority at all levels of the Plan for Living with Covid-19. Alot of work has been undertaken to facilitate the safe reopening of schools in line with public health advice. The experience to date supports the current international position that schools are low risk environments for Covid-19. My Department has published a suite of helpful guidance for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Data (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The capitation grant has increased in each of the last two budgets. I understand the need for improved capitation funding and I am pleased that budget 2020 has been able to provide for a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for post primary schools that applies from the start of the 2020/21 school year. This builds on the 5% increase in capitation announced in budget 2019. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Data (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The capitation grant has increased in each of the last two budgets. I understand the need for improved capitation funding and I am pleased that budget 2020 has been able to provide for a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for primary schools that applies from the start of the 2020/21 school year. This builds on the 5% increase in capitation announced in budget 2019. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department met with representatives of the school referred to by the Deputy earlier this year and clarified the position relating to the school's accommodation. It is intended that the school in question will relocate to an existing building currently occupied on an interim basis by another school while awaiting the construction of a building project for that school. In this regard, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. 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 over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department has not incurred any fines as a result of non-transposition of EUDirectives into Irish law in the last ten-year period.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: 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 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in that area. Under the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The design of the Calculated Grades model was informed by advice from a Technical Working Group comprising experts drawn from the State Examinations Commission, the Inspectorate of the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: As part of the Roadmap for the Reopening Schools an estimated €437 million in additional financial supports are being provided to schools for the 2020/2021 academic year. Of this €437 million, €211 million is being provided for the period August/September to December 2020 and €226m for January 2021 to July/August 2021. These amounts do not include any additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start. The starting salary for a new entrant teacher in 2012 was €30,702. As a result of the programme of pay restoration, the starting salary of a teacher from 1 October 2020 onwards will be €37,692. Section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 provides that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department has issued replies to representations made on behalf of the individual referred to by the Deputy. 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 Department does not allocate classroom assistants as part of the staffing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (6 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. My Department contracted a Canadian company, Polymetrika...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Interim Review 2017 sets out the objective of embedding achievements in literacy, to include, the enhancement of digital literacy skills of all our learners. Development of the new Literacy and Numeracy Strategy has commenced with digital literacy remaining a key area of focus. Further the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: A school building project which will deliver a 1000 pupil Post Primary School and a 16 classroom Primary Gaelscoil on the campus site in question is currently at planning permission stage. A request for further information was received from the Local Authority earlier this year and a response to the matters raised was submitted on 10 September. The planning decision is now awaited. When this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. As part of initial contingency planning for the Leaving Certificate 2020, the State Examinations Commission procured international expertise through Polymetrika. Polymetrika was contracted to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: In relation to schools admissions I wish to advise the Deputy, that it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils in the area seeking school places. Parents have the right to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (6 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: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department has published a suite of helpful guidance for the safe and sustainable reopening of schools. Each school is required to have a COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe operation through the prevention, early detection and control of COVID-19 in line with public health advice. This guidance is focused on the practical steps schools must take to minimise the risk of transmission of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (6 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: It remains my Department’s key objective for schools to remain open and to continue to operate as normal as possible with due regard to public health advices. There are however certain circumstances when remote teaching and learning will be necessary over the coming weeks and months. The events surrounding COVID-19 and the public health restrictions which resulted in the...