Written answers

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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151. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of DEIS schools and special schools, respectively that have to date opted in to provide the July provision; and the number of teachers and SNAs that have opted to provide home schooling July provision for special needs children. [12961/20]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department published details of Summer Provision 2020 – Reconnecting with Education including a programme for children with complex special educational needs.

The programme is a significant expansion on the July Provision programme of previous years with the eligibility criteria widened to include approximately 9,000 additional primary aged children with complex needs.

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.

To date 231 schools have indicated that they intend to run a school based programme involving approximately 3,700 children.  9,781 families have registered for the home based summer programme involving 9,820 children.

A programme for DEIS schools for this Summer was also announced. To date 71 schools have indicated that they intend to run this programme.

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

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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152. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the decision to withdraw school bus transport for the July provision programme; if her attention has been drawn to the impact on schools that cover a large area across an entire county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12962/20]

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department is providing transport for the July provision for those that have previously needed it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12998/20]

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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196. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to provide school transport to support the summer provision programme for children with special needs and students in DEIS schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13256/20]

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if transport will be provided for children with intellectual disabilities and other children that cannot avail of the summer provision without transport in July and August 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13302/20]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Grant payment is based on the distance that a family reside from their child’s school of attendance. The calculation is based on four trips per day (home to school and school to home, morning and afternoon) multiplied by the number of days a child attends school for the programme. The current rate of grant is 39.12 cent per kilometre for the first 6,437 kilometres travelled and 21.22 per kilometre for each kilometre travelled thereafter.

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