Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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403. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the provision of a new secondary school at the Curragh, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11062/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As you may be aware, Officials in The Department of Education are currently in advanced negotiation with a landowner, in regard the proposed acquisition of a site deemed suitable for the replacement Curragh post primary school to which you refer. The proposal also seeks to cater for expected demographic demand in the area. This negotiation is ongoing, in line with our comprehensive site selection criteria, technical consideration and input from Kildare County Council.

Further announcements will be made when it becomes possible to do so. Due to obvious commercial sensitivities, I cannot elaborate any further at this juncture but please rest assured that the project is being given priority attention.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the identification of additional secondary school places in south County Kildare; if she has concluded negotiations with the relevant school management bodies as previously announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11063/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional post-primary school places in a number of school planning areas including South Kildare.

Where capacity issues arise it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors:

- Duplication of applications – pupils have applied for a place to a number of schools in the area

- School of choice – pupils can’t get a place in their preferred school while there are places in other schools in the town/area

- Some towns/areas have single sex schools and while places are available in the school there are not available to all pupils

- External draw – pupils coming from outside the local area

Until these issues are discussed with the relevant school authorities the true extent of any capacity issue will only become known.

Similar to the process adopted in advance of the current academic year, my Department is engaging with patron bodies, including in the area in question, to identify particular capacity requirements for the forthcoming year(s) which may necessitate action.

As the Deputy is aware there is a number of building projects planned for South Kildare including the following:

- It is intended that significant additional capacity to address this demand will be provided by the planned new 1000 pupil building for the existing Curragh post primary school. This is intended to provide capacity to cater for demand arising in the Kildare School planning area as well as that in the Newbridge and Curragh SPAs. Officials in the Department are currently in advanced negotiation with a landowner, in regard to the proposed acquisition of a site deemed suitable for the replacement Curragh post primary school. This negotiation is ongoing, in line with our comprehensive site selection criteria, technical consideration and input from Kildare County Council.

- New 1,000 pupil school for Celbridge Community School. This project is currently with our Site Acquisition Section to finalise the acquisition of this site. Interim temporary accommodation has been approved to cater for the immediate needs of this school.

- The brief for the major project for Cross and Passion College Kilcullen has also been increased to a 1,000 pupil school to cater for increased demographics.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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405. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to ensure that a standardised amount of homeschooling online hours are provided by each school given that schools are not fully reopening for a number of weeks and there is a risk of future closures; if there are currently checks on schools to ensure that remote learning is being delivered to children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11082/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The public health restrictions which resulted in the closure of schools in March 2020 highlighted the absolute necessity for schools to be agile in providing for continuity of schooling in the future. As a contingency measure against the possibility of partial or full school closures, my Department has provided a suite of guidance materials, agreed with the education partners, to enable schools to facilitate the continuity of learning in these circumstances. These are available at www.gov.ie/backtoschool.

This documentation has been complemented by Circular 074/2020 (Communication/Teaching & Learning Platform) which requires all schools to have in place appropriate contingency measures to ensure that they are prepared to continue to support teaching and learning in the event of a partial or full closure of schools arising from Public Health advice.

During the current period of school closure, schools are required to put in place their plan of action to enable continuity of learning for all pupils. This involves all teachers who are medically fit to work, including SETs, providing remote teaching and learning to all pupils in their class or on their caseload. In the case of primary schools there should be daily engagement. In the case of post-primary school, teachers have been asked to teach according to the usual timetable.

It is crucially important that the learning of all pupils/students, especially those with special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage and/or early school leaving, are supported at this time. These supports include teachers engaging with their pupils/students on a regular basis, through a blend of guided and independent learnings tasks and experiences. Chosen learning tasks provide an opportunity to demonstrate a student’s learning in a clear and concise way. These learning tasks enable teachers to monitor progress and provide constructive, developmental feedback to support learning.

The Department's Inspectorate has engaged with schools to support and advise on remote learning provision so that any difficulties experienced by schools can be addressed in line with published guidance. Should a parent have concerns regarding teaching and learning in their child’s school, this can be done by discussing the matter informally with the principal.

The full re-opening of our schools for all students in line with public health advice remains a top priority for Government and my Department is focussing on the safe return of all remaining cohorts of pupils and students to school at the earliest opportunity in March, with the last group of post primary students set to return to school after the Easter Break.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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406. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if work has been carried out by her Department to ascertain if a new second-level school will be required in east County Cork in the next number of years, especially in the Midleton area; if so, the details of projections for such a development; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11103/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, utilising data from a range of sources including information on planned and current residential development, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise.

Major new residential developments in a school planning area have the potential to alter demand in that area. In that regard, as part of the demographic exercises, my Department engages with each local authority to obtain the up-to-date data on significant new residential development in each area. My Department then makes an assessment of the existing capacity within the particular area and its ability to meet increased demand.

Where data indicates that additional provision is required at primary or post primary level, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following:

- Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools,

- Extending the capacity of a school or schools,

- Provision of a new school or schools.

Following such analysis, a new post primary school, Carrigtwohill Community College, was established in 2016 to serve the the Midleton_Carrigtwohill school planning area.

The requirement for additional school places is kept under on-going review and work on an updated exercise to assess needs for the coming years, including those which may arise in the east Cork school planning areas, is at an advanced stage.