Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 901: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the circumstances at a school (details supplied) in County Wexford; the timeframe for reduction of the pupil-teacher ratio and improvement in learning supports for this school; if she will consider an application for funding to enable the board of management to provide additional accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10474/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on the 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule agreed between my Department and the education partners. In accordance with the staffing schedule, the staffing of the school referred to by the Deputy for the school year 2004-05 is a principal and a mainstream class teacher based on an enrolment of 46 pupils on 30 September 2003. My Department will finalise the staffing schedule for the 2005-06 school year shortly and thereafter notify school boards of management.

According to data submitted to my Department by the board of management of the school, the enrolment on 30 September 2004 was 44 pupils. The staffing for the 2005-06 school year will be determined on the basis of this figure and in accordance with the agreed staffing schedule. The school has the services of part-time resource teaching hours and a shared learning support teacher.

There is a proposed new system for resource teacher allocation which involves a general allocation for all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher incidence of special educational needs. This system also applies to those with learning support needs, such as those functioning at or below the tenth percentile on a standardised test of reading and mathematics. I am conscious of difficulties that could arise from the proposed model for children in small and rural schools if it were implemented as currently proposed. Accordingly, my Department is reviewing the proposal to ensure that it provides an automatic response for pupils with common higher incidence special educational needs. The review involves consultation with educational interests, including the National Council for Special Education. The revised procedure for providing a general allocation of resource hours to schools will be announced in the coming weeks in time to be implemented for the next school year.

The NCSE, which has been operational since 1 January 2005, is responsible for processing applications for special educational needs supports and 71 special educational needs organisers have been recruited throughout the country and will be a focal point of contact for schools and parents.

With regard to accommodation, my Department's building unit wrote to the school in July 2002, recommending the appointment of a consultant architect to prepare tender documentation for the purchase of a temporary classroom to accommodate the school's resource teacher. The school authorities did not reply and therefore the matter went no further. If the school authorities still propose to extend the school's mainstream accommodation, they must submit an application to the planning section in my Department which will assess the application against the published criteria. The project will be considered in the context of the schools building programme from 2006 onwards.