Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the questions raised and would advise the following:

Under the Education Act 1998 the school Board of Management (BOM) is the body charged with the direct governance of a school, and it is the BOM which employs the staff at the school.The allocation of duties to staff is also a matter for the BOM as the employer.

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SET and SNA support and reviews. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

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.

Under the SNA allocation model for special classes and special schools there is a prescribed special class to SNA ratio. An ASD special class, for example, has an allocation of 1 teacher and 2 SNA posts to cater for the educational and care needs of 6 students. This ratio applies to the special class, not the entire school.

Additional SNA support over the prescribed ratio may also be sanctioned by the NCSE where there are individual children who have significant care needs which require support above the level of support already sanctioned to the school.

The school in question is not a special school and does not have any special classes so a ratio applicable to such schools and classes would not apply.

In relation to SNA support the NCSE has confirmed that the school has an allocation of SNA support to provide support for children with primary care needs. The NCSE has published the SNA allocations for the 2022/23 school year, and they are available at ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations

The school can apply to the NCSE for a review of its SNA allocation if it is insufficient to meet the needs of its students. Detailed information on the NCSE Exceptional Review process is published on the NCSE website. ncse.ie/application-for-sna-exceptional-review.

The Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.

The allocation allows schools to provide additional teaching support for all pupils who require such support in their schools and for schools to deploy resources based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.

The NCSE have published the SET allocations for the 2022/23 school year and they are available at ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations

A process is available where schools can seek a review of their allocations by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), including the utilisation of their allocations, in circumstances where a school considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen subsequent to the development of the profile.

The Department encourages parents and school authorities to engage locally regarding pupils' education. Parents who have concerns regarding the manner in which the resources or supports which have been provided to support their child's education are being applied in school should, in the first instance, raise this matter directly with their school Principal or the Board of Management of the school.

All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.