Results 1,941-1,960 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

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

Norma Foley: My Department is committed to the provision of a new school building for the school referred to by the Deputy. A new site is required to facilitate this and my Department is considering a potential option in this regard. My Department will update the school authorities on any developments as they arise. In the meantime, I understand that arrangements have been made for the school to...

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: Covid-19 Pandemic (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has considered the national experience of school reopening to date, including the epidemiological data and information gathered through case and outbreak management. The experience to date since schools reopened is reassuring and supports the current international position that schools and childcare facilities do not appear to be key drivers...

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

Norma Foley: The three post primary schools in Ennistymon have agreed to amalgamate on delivery of a new school building. The 3 schools in question are Scoil Mhuire, CBS and Ennistymon Vocational School. The new school building is to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 650 pupils. The project to provide a new school for the amalgamation of the schools in Ennistymon was recently approved to go to...

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

Norma Foley: My Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, the Department provided funding of €16.9 million in 2019 to all of these schools. Additional funding of €1million provided under Budget 2020 was allocated to 102...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (14 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: School Staff (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I am keenly aware of the huge contribution made by Teaching Principals, most particularly in this academic year when Covid-19 has placed an additional strain on Principals and our schools. The Roadmap for the Full Return to School provides for comprehensive supports across a range of areas to allow for the safe reopening of schools. €10.2m has been allocated to support...

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

Norma Foley: My Department's design guidelines for schools include guidance in the provision of P.E. Halls, general purpose rooms and outdoor hard play areas such as basketball courts. Other P.E. facilities e.g. pitches are provided, where appropriate and in the context of available resources and site conditions, under my Department’s school building programme to be delivered as part of the...

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

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, my Department has been in recent correspondence with representatives of a community group in respect of proposed post primary provision on Inishbofin. My Department works closely with the Department of Rural and Community Development to advance areas of mutual interest. These are set out in the Rural Action Plan and include consideration of services provided on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: There are no plans to partially or fully close schools for the reasons outlined by Deputy. The HPSC guidance recognises that children should attend school as it is important for the child’s overall well-being. Schools are proving to be safe places for children and staff and this is recognised by public health teams who have acknowledged that schools are successfully implementing the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (14 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. On 03 October I announced that improved Calculated Grades...

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

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 93 together. My Department supports a wide variety of professional learning activities for teachers through the Teacher Education Support Services, Education Centres, Department agencies and other initiatives. The Teacher Education Support Services provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for schools leaders and teachers on several key...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the HSE have published guidance for managing potential cases of COVID-19 in educational settings, which includes the testing strategy within an educational facility ‘Schools Pathway for COVID-19, the Public Health approach’: This guidance provides that the HSE Department of Public Health will liaise directly with schools regarding...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (14 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 this year. The system of Calculated Grades is a complex and sophisticated system. It had to be developed from scratch, specifically for the Irish Leaving Certificate, and within an extremely tight timeframe in...

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

Norma Foley: Languages Connect, Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017 – 2026 and accompanying Implementation Plan sets out a roadmap to put Ireland in the top ten countries in Europe for the teaching and learning of foreign languages through a number of measures targeted at improving proficiency, diversity and immersion. Under Action 1.E.2 of the Implementation Plan, the...

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: 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. Primary schools are currently provided with class teachers on the basis of one teacher for every 26 pupils which is at its historically...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the HSE have published guidance for managing potential cases of COVID-19 in educational settings, which includes the testing strategy within an educational facility ‘Schools Pathway for COVID-19, the Public Health approach’: This guidance provides that the HSE Department of Public Health will liaise directly with schools regarding...

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. Primary schools are currently provided with class teachers on the basis of one teacher for every 26 pupils which is at its historically...

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

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, the provision of PE Halls and General Purpose Rooms form part of the accommodation brief for all newly established schools. These facilities may also form part of the overall accommodation brief for major capital extensions to existing schools. Details of large-scale projects being delivered under the school building programme may be viewed on my Department's website,...