E-sceal 547 - Staffing Schedule for 2019/2020 School Year
- Published: 28 February 2019
The staffing schedule for the 2019/2020 school year was issued almost four weeks later than its traditional publication date on Monday 25 February 2019. Included in the circular for the first time is a school’s SET allocation. For the succeeding school year, there will no change to the pupil teacher ratio or to the thresholds for appointment to the roles of administrative principal or deputy principal.
SET clusters in operation for the current school year will be terminated at the end of June as hours have been reviewed for the 2019/2020 school year by NCSE and Special Education Section in the DES. Guidelines on the re-clustering process are provided in the circular.
If you have a query regarding the staffing schedule, please send details to rachel.hallahan@ippn.ie by 3.00pm on Tuesday 5 March. A synopsis of the circular and an answer to your query will be provided in next Thursday’s e-sceal.
Click here to view the circular
E-sceal 547 - Leadership & Management Days
- Published: 28 February 2019
E-sceal 546 - CPSI – Mandatory and Optional Templates
- Published: 14 February 2019
The DES has now published 11 Templates for use by schools in relation to Child Protection. They will be available through the Revised IPPN Child Protection Bundle, which will be online by Monday 25 February 2019. Available templates include:
- Mandatory Template 1 – Risk Assessment (Portrait)
- Mandatory Template 1 – Risk Assessment (Landscape)
- Mandatory Template 2 – Child Safeguarding Statement (CSS)
- Mandatory Template 3 – CSS Review Checklist
- Mandatory Template 4 – BoM notification to Patron that CSS has been Reviewed
- Optional Template A – Record of initial contact re CP Concern (Part A) Record of contact with Tusla and the advice given (Part B)
- Optional Template B – Letter from DLP to a School Employee where the DLP decides not to forward a CP Concern brought by the School Employee to Tusla – Procedures section 5.3.8*
- Optional Template C – Record of decision to inform parents or not of a CP Concern relating to their child – Procedures section 5.3.6*
- Optional Template D – Template letter from DLP to a parent who makes an allegation of abuse against a member of the school personnel - Procedures section 5.6.2*
- Optional Template E – CP Oversight Report (CPOR) Template
- Optional Template F – Record of documents submitted to BoM meeting with CPOR *Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools 2017
Notes on the above Templates:
- Following representations from IPPN, the DES have now made two versions of the Risk Assessment Template (Mandatory Template 1) available. Either of these Mandatory Templates can be used by a school. The Landscape version is more like the very popular IPPN Risk Assessment Template and is easier to use
- Optional Template A records both the initial contact by the DLP with a CP Concern, how it came about and also records details of the DLP’s call for advice to Tusla
- Optional Template E is a 4-page template to be prepared for the BoM meeting. It does exactly the same as the IPPN CPOR Template (1 page)
E-sceal 545 - SNA – Career Break Application
- Published: 07 February 2019
Discussions on SNA applications for career break are taking place in schools. While the application deadline is 1 March, the operation of the scheme differs to other types of leave. SNA staff considering an application for a career break should be informed that the leave:
- does not reckon as service for seniority purpose
- period of the career break will not be counted as reckonable service (Service prior to and post career break will be treated as continuous for seniority purposes)
- may affect their seniority position which may have consequences for future employment and redundancy.
Schools must update the seniority list for special needs assistants in their school to reflect the loss of seniority for special needs assistants who avail of a career break.
Rule 60 - Emergency Closure
- Published: 31 January 2019
Guidance is provided to Boards of Management in DES Circular 0009/2017 Section 4, in determining whether a school is required to make up the pupil contact time lost due to the recent severe weather conditions. The circular provides a list of flexible options for the Board to consider in making a decision regarding the teaching time lost.
This guidance sets out a structured approach to determining the measures to be put in place to make up for lost tuition time. The guidance provides that, subject to consensus at local level, any changes to normal practice that can be made to address the shortfalls should be put in place.
Examples are given in the circular to address this issue, such as prioritising tuition over non-tuition activities and prioritising learning in the classroom over activities such as school tours etc.
Refer to circular for detailed options.
