Results 13,241-13,260 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — School Closures: School Closures (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A decision was taken by the Trustees of the school to which the Deputy refers that it will close in June 2007. Officials in the School Planning Section of my Department are currently reviewing the educational infrastructure in the area and the educational requirements for the medium to long term. When this review is completed a decision will be taken on the discharge or otherwise of the...

Written Answers — Pre-School Services: Pre-School Services (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Montessori method of education, among other methods within a very diverse sector, is well recognised and respected and contributes significantly to the development of early childhood education in Ireland. This has included involvement in the development of the draft national quality framework for early childhood education recently published by the Centre for Early Childhood Development...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works which acts on behalf of my Department in relation to site acquisitions generally has been requested to source a site for the school in question. Negotiations for the acquisition of a site are ongoing at present. As soon as a site has been acquired for the school, the school building project can be considered in the context of the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My Department has no record of an application for capital funding from the school in question. If the school is in need of additional accommodation to facilitate its growing enrolment the school authority should be advised to contact my Department's School Planning Section to discuss how best to progress the issue.

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Deputy will be aware of my commitment to ensuring that all children including those with autism receive an education appropriate to their needs. The unit referred to by the Deputy which is designed to cater for up to 12 pupils was completed in 2003. Such an enrolment would attract a staffing allocation of 2 full time teachers and 4 special needs assistants. Officials from my Department,...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: In accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, Act 1989, it is the responsibility of school management authorities to have a safety statement in place in their schools. Schools are obliged to identify possible hazards, assess the risks to health and safety and to put appropriate safeguards in place. In practical terms, individual school authorities are best placed to assess the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: This Government has invested in the largest school building programme in the history of the State. Between 1998 and the end of 2004, almost €2 billion was invested in school buildings and in the region of 7,500 large and small projects were completed in schools — including 130 brand new schools and 510 large scale refurbishments/ extensions. Indeed, funding for school building and...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 762 and 770 together. My Department's policy is to ensure the maximum possible integration of children with special educational needs (SEN) into ordinary mainstream schools. As the Deputy is aware, a general allocation scheme has been introduced under which mainstream primary schools have been provided with resource teaching hours, based on enrolment figures,...

Written Answers — Bullying in Schools: Bullying in Schools (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I share the Deputy's concern that any child would feel upset in school because of bullying — be it physical, verbal or cyber and I assure him that supports are in place to enable schools both to prevent bullying and to deal with cases that may arise. For a start, each school is required to have in place a policy which includes specific measures to deal with bullying behaviour, within the...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The pupil teacher ratio at primary level on a national basis (which includes all the teachers including learning support/resource teachers) has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996/97 school year to 17.1:1 in 2004/05. Significant improvements have also been made in the pupil teacher ratio at post primary level at national level in recent years. The ratio has fallen from 16:1 in the 1996/97 school...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, major improvements have been made in staffing at both primary level in recent years. Next September there will no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. Not only is the average class size in our primary schools down to 24, but there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc. Children with...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Data on the total number of assessments carried out by my Department's (National Educational Psychological Service) NEPS psychologists are collated on a school year basis. The most recent school year for which the data have been collated is 2004/2005 and the relevant number is 5,986. Not all assessments involved full cognitive IQ assessments. In addition to the above number, in the 2005...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 773, 779 and 797 together. My Department has no record of applications for the provision of additional facilities from the relevant authorities of the schools referred to by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the school in question was listed on the 2006 School Building Programme and was authorised in April, 2006 to apply for planning permission and fire certificate and to proceed with the preparation of tender documentation for the project.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a letter issued to the school Authorities on 19 May 2006 giving approval to proceed to stage 3 (detailed plans / costs) of architectural planning. When a response is forwarded to my Department, my Officials will then be in a position to further progress this project.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As part of the expansion of the devolved scheme for primary school building works, a grant was sanctioned to enable the management authorities of the school in question to provide additional permanent accommodation. The initiative allows Board of Management to address their accommodation and building priorities with a guaranteed amount of funding and gives Boards of Management control of the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a letter issued to the school Authorities on 16 March 2006 giving approval to proceed to stage 3 (detailed plans / costs) of architectural planning. When a response is forwarded to my Department, my Officials will then be in a position to further progress this project.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 778, 780 to 783, inclusive, 787, 792 and 798 together. The School Planning Section of my Department has received applications for major capital funding from the management authorities of the schools to which the Deputy refers. The applications have been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale projects. Progress on the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The staffing of a primary school for a particular school year is determined by reference to the enrolment in the school on 30th September of the previous school year and by reference to a staffing schedule. This staffing schedule is outlined in Primary Circular 23/06 which issued to all primary schools recently. Under the staffing arrangements for primary schools there is provision for the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The staffing of a primary school for a particular school year is determined by reference to the enrolment in the school on 30th September of the previous school year and by reference to a staffing schedule. This staffing schedule is outlined in Primary Circular 23/06 which issued to all primary schools recently. Under the staffing arrangements for primary schools there is provision for the...