Results 18,201-18,220 of 19,666 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The Calculated Grades Student Portal reopened on 14 September to allow students to view their estimated percentage mark and calculated mark to allow students to consider this data if they were considering an appeal of their Calculated Grade. The appeals process is a process review focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process. It...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Monuments (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The proposed Memorial for children who were victims of abuse in children's residential institutions and which won an open competition, was called the Journey of Light and was designed by Studio Negri and Hennessy & Associates. The design concept was that the Memorial would be integrated with the Garden of Remembrance and would provide an enduring symbol of lost innocence to inspire...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of my Department. In the 2019/2020 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 Transport (22 Sep 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 (22 Sep 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. The design of the Calculated Grades model was informed by advice from a Technical Working Group comprising experts drawn from the State Examinations Commission, the Inspectorate of the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (22 Sep 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: Home Schooling (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The Department acknowledges that there will be cases where individual pupils or groups of pupils are requested by Public Health HSE to self-isolate or restrict their movements because of a case or cases of COVID-19. Schools should, at a minimum, endeavour to support these pupils to catch up with their learning on their return to school. In some instances, where adapted education provision is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: On 21 August, I announced a series of changes that would be made to assessment arrangements for both Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations for 2021. This announcement was accompanied by a published document detailing these changes, Assessment Arrangements for Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Examinations 2021, and forms part of the Roadmap for the Full Return to School. These...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (22 Sep 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. The staffing process also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria. The school referred to by the Deputy has been allocated a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: In a normal year, Leaving Certificate candidates receive their provisional examination results in mid-August and the final Certificate is issued in the spring of the following year following the conclusion of the appeals process. It is not possible or appropriate to reopen this process. The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades for the Leaving Certificate students of 2020 was a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The building project referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department’s Design and Build Programme which tenders to pre-established frameworks of D&B contractors. The Decision to Grant Permission subject to 29 no. conditions was received on 14th September 2020 from Cork Co. Co for the project and the Departments Project Management team are currently reviewing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The major project for the construction of the new school building for St Paul’s Secondary School, Monasterevin is at an advanced stage of the tender process. The Design Team has finalised its engagement with the preferred bidder and the preferred bidder is in the process of putting in place the required bond. It is anticipated that the supplementary tender report with the fully...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 485 and 489 together. The existing Curragh Post-Primary school is a multi-denominational community college under the patronage of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). My Department is satisfied that the needs in the area can be met through the replacement and expansion of the existing Curragh Post-Primary school with a new 1,000...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. The project is currently at Stage 1 of architectural planning which entails preliminary site surveys, location suitability and initial sketch scheme. A review in 2019 of the demand for post-primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The major project for the construction of the new school building for St Paul’s Secondary School, Monasterevin is at an advanced stage of the tender process. The Design Team has finalised its engagement with the preferred bidder and the preferred bidder is in the process of putting in place the required bond. It is anticipated that the supplementary tender report with the fully...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (22 Sep 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: Special Educational Needs Staff (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. My Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations. Accordingly, the question has been referred to the NCSE for direct reply. The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pensions (22 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: The Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and other Provisions) Act 2012 provides for the issuing of annual benefit statements to members. My officials have been liaising with their counterparts in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to clarify various pension issues peculiar to the work patterns in the education sector which impact on the provision of annual benefit...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Accommodation (17 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: 9 o’clock I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the status of the provision of accommodation for Greystones community college. On 17 December 2019 it was announced that the patronage of the new post-primary school for Greystones-Kilcoole was awarded to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB....

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Accommodation (17 Sep 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, construction of Greystones community national school commenced on site in September 2018, prior to the emergence of issues in October 2018 in 42 schools constructed by the contractor involved, which has been the focus of the Department's schools remediation programme. For the duration of the work, the Department's project management technical advisory team...