Results 341-360 of 17,498 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department has recently completed a building project at the school referred to by the deputy. This extension and refurbishment project allowed the school to increase its capacity to a 16-classroom school plus accommodation for special education need classes. The issue of funding repairs, upkeep and inspections of playgrounds outside the vested site areas of schools and other such issues...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm that my department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for modular accommodation from the school referred to by the Deputy. My department has a significant modular accommodation programme in place to assist schools in the provision of additional capacity, including in respect of facilitating the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department approved funding for reconfiguration to provide one special education needs classroom (SEN) and the provision of modular accommodation comprising one mainstream classroom, one SET room and one art room under my Department’s Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme, for the school in question. Under the terms of this scheme, a play area is provided as a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tackling education disadvantage and helping students reach their full potential is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government.?Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students, with an annual investment of over €180 million. The most recent expansion of the programme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 464, 465 and 466 together. My Department is committed to supporting the provision of non-mainstream music education for children and young people in a sustainable and inclusive way. This is done mainly through annual allocations to support Music Generation and schools of music within four Education and Training Boards. There are no plans to extend...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to aim to reduce the general pupil teacher ratio at primary level to 19:1 over the term of government and introduce targeted measures in schools with very large classes. This will build on the progress which has been made by the previous Government. The general average of pupils to teachers in the Primary Staffing Schedule improved...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy is aware, through the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme, the specifications for all Leaving Certificate curricular subjects are scheduled to be redeveloped by 2029, in annual groupings. The first tranche of 9 new and revised subjects have been introduced for this academic year and are available to study for all students commencing their Leaving Certificate studies...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 474 and 475 together. The school to which the Deputy refers was granted approval for the provision of three mainstream classrooms, four science rooms plus preparation areas, two technical/design communication graphics rooms, four special education tuition (SET)rooms, one staff room, in additional accommodation. The project also incorporates...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The brief for this project is to provide a new permanent school for the school referred to by the Deputy, and this project is designed to be delivered in 2 phases; Phase 1 will deliver accommodation for 425 students and Phase 2 will deliver the remaining accommodation to provide for a Long Term Projected Enrolment of 1000 students, at the former Magee Barracks site in Kildare. The Design...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The redeveloped Primary School Curriculum is for all children attending primary and special schools and consists of the Primary Curriculum Framework (2023) and five curriculum area specifications, including: • Arts Education (including Art, Drama and Music) • Language (including Irish, English and Modern Foreign Languages) • Social and Environmental Education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: Significant investment of over €9 million was made available to primary and special schools at the end of 2024. This was to ensure that schools have essential resources and materials to deliver a curriculum that meets the needs of all learners. The first of the grants were specifically aimed at supporting the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: One of the key principles and changes in the new curriculum is increased flexibility for teachers and school leaders. The curriculum provides flexibility and choice to teachers and school leaders as they support each child’s learning journey and in their holistic development. Schools will have greater flexibility in deciding how time is allocated in the curriculum. By delineating some...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: In redeveloping the new primary curriculum, my Department and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) placed a strong emphasis on consultation and collaboration. Wide-ranging engagement was undertaken to ensure that the voices of those most directly involved in education – including children, parents, teachers, school leaders, and a broad range of stakeholders...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Primary Curriculum Framework which was published in 2023, and the new curriculum specifications is equally for all primary and special schools and for all learners with all their varied backgrounds, needs and abilities. They support boards of management in their statutory duties to ensure that appropriate education is provided for all children in our schools. The new curriculum...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (30 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: Teachers and school leaders will receive support through: • Teacher professional learning through Oide, National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and PPLI/Languages Connect • whole-school closure days • in-school support • online resources to include National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) toolkits Professional Learning Teacher...