Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the action which is being taken to reduce classroom sizes to deal with the serious overcrowding at a school (details supplied) in County Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11370/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school to which the Deputy refers has an application with my Department's school planning section for a GP room and a home school liaison room. My officials are examining the school's enrolments and have asked the inspector to visit the school and prepare a report on its long-term needs. Following consideration of the inspector's report, my Department will be in contact with the school authorities.

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 seven mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 195 pupils at 30 September 2003. In addition the school has the services of one full-time resource post, a shared resource post and a shared learning support 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 201 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 to the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level, which has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.44:1 in the 2003-04 school year. In line with Government policy, my Department will continue to provide further reductions in the pupil teacher ratio 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.

I trust that the Deputy is aware of the proposed new system for resource teacher allocation which involves a general allocation for all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher incidence special educational needs — borderline mild and mild general learning disability and specific learning disability. This system also applies to those with learning support needs, that is, functioning at or below the tenth percentile on a standardised test of reading and-or mathematics. My Department is currently 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.