Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

This matter relates to Cavan No. 1 National School on Farnham Street in Cavan. The school has an enrolment of 106 pupils - the number is increasing - and its ethos is Church of Ireland. It is an excellent school that has a very caring attitude. The school is in crisis, however, because a number of students who require special needs assistants, SNAs, do not have them. Two students have just joined junior infants. One has been diagnosed as autistic and is non-verbal. The other has quite complex needs and is awaiting an assessment by the children's disability network team. Neither has access to an SNA. As a result, the principal and the English as an additional language, EAL, teacher are providing the assistance required at the moment.

The principal is in the classroom with one of the students until 11 a.m. That student then goes home and the EAL teacher comes into the classroom to stay with the other student who only arrives at that time. What we have are two members of staff who do not have the ability to perform their own duties because they are in a classroom for a number of hours each day providing assistance to students who require it. This also means that the two students are not being given the benefit of a full day in school at any time. Parents are questioning why this is the situation.

There is another pupil in second class who is autistic and who has no SNA access. There is also a student in third class who is a wheelchair user, and there are times when she will need two SNAs in respect of toileting or other care needs. There are two SNAs employed in the school, but all of these students are in different classes. As a result, the SNAs are not able to provide support to them. They are under pressure to do as much as they can.

The school applied for additional SNA provision since September but this was refused. It was more or less told to make better use of its SNAs. That is just not possible at the moment. The school is concerned that if its appeal is turned down, it would have no option but to tell the students in junior infants that they cannot be accommodated. The school has already had to let one student who has siblings in the school go. That student travels 30 km to another school to get an appropriate education. The school would love to have that student back and the parents want the student back in the school. As a result, everyone involved wants a special class in the school, hopefully from September. The school has been inquiring about the latter for the past six months.

The urgent need in this case relates to additional SNA support in the school in order that the principal and the EAL teacher can perform the duties they are assigned to and that all of the students can be in attendance for the full day each day. Hopefully, the school will get a special class in September in order that it would be in a position to accommodate all of its students who are autistic in the same classroom and provide them with an appropriate education.

Cavan No. 1 National School is one of four schools in Cavan town. It is the only school that does not have DEIS status. It is also the only school that does not have a special class. It has heard about other schools being contacted about the establishment of special classes. Some of those schools are not willing to do this, but the school in question is willing to do it. It feels it is being penalised because of its Church of Ireland ethos. I am sure that is not the case, but I would like that clarified. It is also because the school is small. Some parents choose to send their child to a smaller school because it is more intimate, they know the staff better and the students, especially those who are autistic, are not overwhelmed by a large number of other students. It would be an awful pity if this school has to turn away students who want to attend because it is not being given the necessary supports.