Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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406. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an SNA application and appeal by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37305/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews.

The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs.  Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school.  SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. 

It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. 

In light of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the introduction of the new Frontloaded Allocation Model for SNAs for students in mainstream classes in primary and post -primary schools is to be deferred for a further year to the beginning of the 2022/23 school year. 

In order to minimise disruption for schools, in the current circumstances, and to provide for continuity of allocations the following arrangements for the allocation of Special Needs Assistants for mainstream classes for the 2021/22 school year: 

- Existing mainstream class SNA allocations in schools on 30 April 2021 will be maintained and will automatically rollover into the 2021/22 school year.

- No school will therefore receive an allocation less than that which they had on 30 April 2021.

- SNAs currently in mainstream settings can continue in post for the next school year in  the normal way.

- Priority consideration will now be given by the NCSE to applications for increased support for the 2021/22 school year, in particular, applications from schools with no SNAs and developing schools will be prioritised. Determinations will be made before 30 June. Other applications will be processed in order of date received.

- As in previous years, where circumstances change during the course of the 2021/22 school year that materially increase the level of care need in a school to the extent that the school can clearly demonstrate that it cannot be met  within the existing SNA allocation, the school may apply to the NCSE for a review. Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website 

The NCSE have published the SNA allocations on their website . 

SNA allocations for special classes and special schools are not affected by this arrangement.

has been published and advises schools of the arrangements for the allocation of SNAs for the 2021/22 school year.

Provisions set out in has been extended for the 2021/22 school year.

Circulars and are available on the Departments website.

The NCSE has confirmed that a decision letter issued to the school on the 28/05/2021 advising of no change to the current allocation of 2 SNAs and recommending the school make an application for Advisory support through the NCSE online portal. This was followed up on by the school and support from an NCSE Behaviour Advisor was provided.

It is open to the school to appeal the outcome of the SNA Exceptional Review and information on this in available on the NCSE website at:

Alternatively, if the school has new information not included in the application already submitted, a new application in respect of the 2021/22 school year can be made through the NCSE online portal and guidelines on the process can also be found on the NCSE website at 

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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407. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applications for an exceptional review in relation to SNA allocations in 2021; the number of such applications that were rejected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37370/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The NCSE manages the exceptional review process and handles each case individually. Some review requests can be concluded as an office based exercise, whilst others require a school to be visited. The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided.

In processing applications for an exceptional review of SNA support, the NCSE considers each application on the basis of the information provided by the school. Schools are required to use their existing allocation and deploy SNAs in support of the care needs as they are currently presenting in the school. The NCSE examines the application to identify whether there has been a significant change in the profile of care needs in the school. In some cases an additional allocation is required and is subsequently made available to the school. As advised in the Guidelines on the SNA Exceptional Review process published on the NCSE website, priority is given to schools with no or limited SNA resources and to rapidly developing schools.

For the 2020/21 Exceptional Review process, given the particular public health requirements and the fact that school buildings were closed for some of the year, wherever possible the opportunity was taken to conclude a review as an office based exercise. In most cases this resulted with the review being brought to a conclusion without a school visit. However, in some cases it was also necessary to visit the school in order to complete the process and 320 such school visits took place.  The school visit provides an opportunity to engage with teachers, SNAs and school management on the effective deployment of SNAs in the school and the NCSE is thankful to schools for facilitating their taking place.

The NCSE have confirmed that 1,488 SNA Exceptional Review applications were received, and outcomes notified to schools. Of these, 772 schools received an increase amounting to 539.39 additional posts allocated. The number of appeals received was 137.