Results 7,141-7,160 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (9 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) carried out an extensive review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in 2018 and 2019 and a key recommendation arising from that review was the need for an updated Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum spanning both primary and post-primary education. Following extensive work and public consultation, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (9 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (9 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 304 to 308, inclusive, together. As referenced, payslips are now being made available to serving and retired staff, paid through the Department’s schools employee payroll service, in two formats. Firstly the paper payslip is still available as an option, and secondly an e-payslip can now be delivered electronically to a recipient’s Digital...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The process of reviewing the 2017 Guidelines for the Use of School Buildings outside of School Hours is now underway by my Department. My Department supports and encourage the use of school buildings for community and recreational purposes , where feasible, and this will remain a core feature of the new Guidelines. Part of the review includes a school survey to inform the updating of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that approval has issued for the provision of additional classroom accommodation at the school referred, to cater for enrolments. The project is being delivered under the Department’s Devolved SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme. This approach supports accelerated delivery of the accommodation and maximises assistance to the school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Energy Prices (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to all recognised 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 including heating, lighting etc. and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. These grants may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application for additional school accommodation (ASA) from the school authority 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 by the school’s...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Consultations (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The National Parents Council Primary was formally requested to extend its remit and support to post primary parents in written correspondence dated 02 December 2022. Prior to this, the Department engaged directly with the National Parents Council Post Primary rather than with the individual constituent or former constituent bodies of the NPCpp.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers to was approved funding under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme. The project is devolved for delivery to the school authority and will provide a 2 Classroom Special Education Needs (SEN) base, 6 x Mainstream Classrooms with en-suite and assisted user WC. I can confirm that my Department has received a Stage 1 design report from the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: There are a number of programmes and supports within schools to assist students in considering and accessing the widest range of options possible including training in trades. All schools are expected to have a Whole School Guidance plan detailing a range of activities exposing students to a wide range of options, including but not limited to training programmes, apprenticeships, further...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to expand the plurality of our schools to reflect the full breadth of society. Among the commitments are to: “Achieve the target of at least 400 multidenominational primary schools by 2030, to improve parental choice”; “Expand and prioritise the transfer of viable schools to Community National Schools”;...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the deputy received approval for a building project under the Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The school recently submitted the Form of Acceptance for this project. Progression of this project through Stage 1 of the architectural planning process currently lies with the school authority. Whilst this project has been devolved to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (4 May 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware small schools are defined for statistical purposes as schools with 4 mainstream teachers or less. Small schools are highly valued in their communities in that they provide a vital link to local heritage and history, help sustain rural populations and often act as a link for sports and social activity. Under the Programme for Government the Department of Education is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (3 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that approval has issued, to the school authority in question, for the provision of Modular accommodation. The project is being delivered under the Department’s Devolved SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme. This approach supports accelerated delivery of the accommodation and maximises assistance to the school for this brief,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (3 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. My officials are currently liaising with the school authorities regarding accommodation required at the school.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (3 May 2023)

Norma Foley: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for my Department. In order to plan for school place needs, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (3 May 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (3 May 2023)

Norma Foley: It is my Department's intention to progress the accommodation brief for the school referred to by the Deputy as quickly as possible. In the meantime, my Department has been working with the school patron to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation in place to meet the interim needs of the school, pending the delivery of the main project. Key priorities for my Department's work...