Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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292. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if children with special educational needs attending rural mainstream schools are included in the July provision. [11536/20]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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294. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the July provision will be extended into August 2020 to allow children with special educational needs to ease back into the school year and provide respite to those families. [11538/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 292 and 294 together.

My Department has published details of a summer programme for children with special educational needs enrolled in special schools, special classes and mainstream classes.  The programme incorporates some aspects of the July Provision of previous years. 

Summer Provision 2020 – Reconnecting with Education, is a significantly expanded programme for children with complex special educational needs which aims to re-establish the child’s relationships and connection with school and their peers as a basis for learning and participation and to help the child to re-engage in learning and social activities and help them adapt to new routines and changes.  The programme aims to ensure, in so far as possible, that the child can reintegrate/transition into their planned education setting for the next school year with their peers.  In-school or home-based supports by teachers and SNAs will help to prevent regression among children with special needs. 

The eligibility criteria has been widened to include the following categories of children:

1. Pupils with a diagnosis of Autism
2. Pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties
3. Any child in a special class or special school
4. Children transitioning into a special class or special school from early year’s settings
5. Pupils in primary school mainstream classes who present with the following disabilities:

- Children who are Deaf or most severe hard of hearing

- Children who are blind or have a most severe visual impairment

- Children who have a moderate general learning disability

- Children with severe emotional behavioural difficulties

All special schools and primary schools with special classes are invited to provide the school based summer provision for their students.  This programme will run for a minimum of two weeks and can extend up to four weeks where the schools, teachers and Special Needs Assistants are willing to participate. 

Home-based provision will be available where a child’s local school is not providing a programme or does not have the capacity to accommodate a child in a planned programme this year. In this situation my Department will provide grant funding towards the engagement by Parents of a registered teacher / SNA to provide home based support for 10 hours a week for 4 weeks.

The programme will be reliant on schools, teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) choosing to participate on a voluntary basis. 

A dedicated online registration system for families of children with special needs to access Summer Provision is now available onGov.ie/summerprovision

Parents are asked to register their participation online, providing some outline information of the extent of their participation in the programme e.g. number of weeks.

Once registered, the parent is then free to plan and organise the programme for their child by consulting with the child’s school and securing the services of a teacher or SNA. 

I also announced a programme for DEIS schools for this Summer.

Full information on summer provision and its various strands, including guidance information for parents, is available atGov.ie/summerprovision

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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293. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if children with special educational needs that avail of transport to and from their educational facilities will have the service available during the July provision. [11537/20]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills.

The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. 

In the current school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, are 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 €219m in 2019. 

With regard to transport arrangements for the July Programme my Department will provide grant funding to support parents with the cost of transport arrangements for those children who are eligible for school transport and who have been approved to participate in the school based July Programme.

Schools are required to identify children who are on a School Transport service or who are in receipt of a grant.  School Transport Section will be in contact with schools and families in regard to the arrangements for payment.