Results 17,781-17,800 of 19,660 for speaker:Norma Foley

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

Norma Foley: My Department received advice from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on the use of face coverings in educational settings. The advice provides that It is a requirement for face coverings to be worn by teachers, staff in schools and students attending post primary school and includes a number of exemptions. My Department subsequently published clarification on the use of...

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

Norma Foley: A list of all currently open schools can be obtained from my Department's website using the "find a school" search tool. The list can be refined to extract the Dublin schools and their ethos. In regard to the schools due to open in the coming years, a process will be conducted to determine who will be patron of these schools. The outcome of such processes, when concluded, are generally...

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

Norma Foley: The major building project for the first school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design, which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. In December 2019, my Department received the Stage 2(b) submission for this project. In order to expedite the progression of the major...

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

Norma Foley: The project referred to by the Deputy when complete will provide a three Storey 16 classroom Primary School building, including a two classroom special education needs base. The design also includes a general-purpose hall, support teaching spaces and ancillary accommodation, external junior play areas, secure SEN hard and soft play area and a sensory garden. The proposed project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30th September. However, the staffing arrangements for primary schools also includes the provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Information and Communications Technology (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: Through the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. The Department's High Speed Broadband Programme, provides all recognised post-primary schools, high speed broadband with a minimum broadband speed of 100mbs. There are 58 special...

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: 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: State Examinations (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. In the absence of these examinations, every effort has been made to make the system as fair as possible for as many students as possible. The process of national standardisation, which forms a key...

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: Schools Building Projects (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: The building project for the school in question is included in my Department's capital programme. Officials in my Department continue to liaise with officials in Cork City Council in relation to the identification and acquisition of a suitable site for the school. A number of site options have been proposed and assessed. A potential site option has been identified. Negotiations with 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. 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 over...

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

Norma Foley: I can confirm that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school authority referred to by the Deputy. Once the application has been assessed, the school authority will be contacted directly with a decision.

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: State Examinations (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department is acutely aware of the disruption caused to students as a result of school closures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and which led the decision not to run the state examinations this summer. In the context of the return to schools of students for the 2020/21 school year my Department published a range of documentation and support material as part of the Roadmap for the Full...

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

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 to 201, inclusive, together. The Department has a large pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. The main elements of this pipeline currently involve 372 large-scale projects and circa. 800 projects for delivery under the Department’s Additional Accommodation Scheme. The pipeline will continue to be monitored to...

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

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, 45 new schools have been announced to open between 2019 and 2022 including five new schools to serve Kildare: - a new 8-classroom primary school established in 2019 to serve the Leixlip school planning area; - a new 8-classroom primary school established in 2019 to serve the Maynooth school planning area; - a new 8-classroom primary school to be established in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaelcholáistí Issues (14 Oct 2020)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh Nuad opened in September 2020. The patron has made arrangements to accommodate the school on the grounds of the existing post primary schools in Maynooth.

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. Previous budgets of 2016 and 2018 improved the staffing schedule by one point on both occasions to its historically lowest level ever of 1...

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...