Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 917: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to a national school (details supplied) in Dublin 4 which has a split class in which there are 13 junior infants and 15 senior infants in the same classroom under the care and supervision of one teacher; the way in which this relates to the commitment in the programme for Government which states that the average set of classes for children under nine will be below the international best practice guideline of 20:1; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10628/05]

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 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule, agreed between my Department and the education partners.

The system for allocating teachers to primary schools is based on ensuring an overall maximum class of 29 in each school. Where some classes in a school have class sizes of greater than 29, it is generally because a decision has been taken at local level to use their teaching resources to have smaller numbers in other classes.

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 three mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 95 pupils at 30 September 2003. The school also has a resource teaching post.

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 91 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.

Significant improvements have been made in the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level in recent years. The ratio has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.44:1 in the 2003-04 school year. Average class size has also fallen from 26.5 in 1996-97 to 24.9 in 2003-04. In line with Government policy, my Department will continue to provide further reductions in the pupil-teacher ratio and class size at junior level within available resources and subject to spending priorities within the education sector. Priority will be given to pupils with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas and those in junior classes.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department. If the Deputy would like information on a particular school, I would be happy to provide it.