Results 7,401-7,420 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Mental Health Strategies (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy may be aware, mental health and wellbeing promotion is afforded a high priority and is one of the key goals within my Department’s Action Plan for Education in 2016/19. My Department is strongly supportive of the promotion of wellbeing in our schools and has a key role to play in the promotion of the wellbeing of children and young people in Ireland, in collaboration...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home School Community Liaison Scheme (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: All DEIS Urban Primary and DEIS Post Primary schools are currently included in the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme, which serves 539 schools. The scheme is delivered by 416 full-time HSCL Coordinators who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or clusters of schools, catering for approximately 156,000 pupils. The impact of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: The Deputy will be aware that a major building project, for the school to which he refers, is included in my Department's Capital Programme. It is acknowledged that this project will involve complex and careful master-planning of the site. A full technical site visit has taken, place by my Department's technical staff, and the project brief for the school is currently being formulated....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: I wish to advise the Deputy that the current status of large-scale projects, including those in County Kildare, being delivered under the school building programme may be viewed on my Department's website, www.education.ie and this information is updated regularly. In addition, a list of large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date may also be viewed on the website. I also wish to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy is aware, a building project to provide permanent accommodation for the school in question is included in my Department’s 6 Year Construction Programme. In this regard, the schedule of accommodation for the new school has been finalised and has recently issued to the school authorities for their observation.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: I am aware of the demand for additional special class and special school placements in the North Dublin area. I have asked the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to provide my Department with a report on current and future identified need in the area so that evidence based decisions may be made on the development of the necessary placements in the area for the short, medium...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Mental Health Strategies (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: Within my Department’s Action Plan for Education in 2016/19 mental health and wellbeing promotion is afforded a high priority and is one of the key goals. My Department is strongly supportive of the promotion of positive mental health awareness in both primary and post-primary schools. The Department adopts a holistic and integrated approach to supporting schools in promoting positive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Eligibility (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy will be aware, my Department introduced an objective, statistics based model for assessing which schools merit inclusion in the DEIS Programme in 2017, so that all stakeholders can have confidence that we are targeting extra resources at those schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. This model uses data supplied by schools to my Department's Primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy will be aware, my Department has provided a comprehensive update to the Education Committee of which he is a member on 30 September last and has committed to do so on a regular basis with regard to the status of the 42 new schools to be provided over the next 4 years (2019 to 2022). The current focus for my Department is to prioritise the 17 schools opening in 2019 so that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: The Department of Education and Skills was not made aware of the change of policy by UCD, in imposing a deadline of 30 September for acceptance of new entrants. There is no onus on UCD, given its autonomous nature, to advise the DES on its admissions procedures, for which the university itself has legal responsibility. Officials of my have Department meet with the State Examinations...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Development Plan (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: The National Development Plan (NDP) provides for an €8.4 billion investment in school buildings over the period 2018 to 2027 to deliver on NDP and National Planning Framework objectives through addressing the twin priorities of catering for demographics and ensuring a strengthened focus on refurbishment of existing school stock. This investment will result in an almost doubling of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: I can inform the Deputy that my Department introduced a new model of teacher allocation to support pupils with special educational needs in our schools following a pilot which demonstrated strong support from principals, teachers and parents. The new model differs significantly from the old Resource Allocation Model, as schools are now front-loaded with additional resources based on the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: In Budget 2019, School leadership is again supported with an additional release day for teaching principals in primary schools and a further four additional release days for teaching principals in schools with special classes. These additional release days - 18, 24, and 30 depending on the size of the school - will be effective from 1st September 2019. This builds on measures in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: In Budget 2019, School leadership is again supported with an additional release day for teaching principals in primary schools and a further four additional release days for teaching principals in schools with special classes. These additional release days - 18, 24, and 30 depending on the size of the school - will be effective from 1st September 2019. This builds on measures in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: Officials in my Department continue to liaise with officials in Donegal County Council in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the acquisition of a suitable location for the proposed education campus and have identified a preferred site option. I am aware of media reports that the preferred site had been acquired by a third party however I can confirm that my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data in a way that takes account of the significant local and regional variations in demographic trends and enrolment projections, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas, Using school planning area boundaries within my Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) allows data...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: From the Annual Report submitted by the Appeals Officers, the Deputy will note that when I appointed two Appeals Officers in May 2017 to deal with the backlog of cases that had built up, there were 140 cases outstanding when they took up their position and they received an additional 87 appeals between May 2017 and April 2018, giving a total of 227 appeals for consideration. 193 cases were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: The major building project for the school to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2b – Detailed Design, which includes the applications for Planning Permission, Fire Cert and Disability Access Cert and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been obtained. The Design Team is currently working on a submission to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Administration (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning – Stage 2b (Detailed Design) which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. The Design Team has issued a Brief Change Request to the Department which is currently under...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Oct 2018)

Joe McHugh: My Department published Circular 0013/2018 in February 2018, which set out an approach to the arrangements that were to be made for religious instruction and worship in Education and Training Board (ETB) and Post Primary Community schools. This arose from concerns that multidenominational ETB schools were requiring attendance at classes with Catholic religious instruction. Section 4 of...