IPPN

Published: 23 October 2014

The release of additional resource hours has prompted a number of frequent queries to the support office. These include:

The NCSE has approved additional resource hours for my school, but I am unable to form a cluster. What should I do?
Schools should complete and return the Resource Application Form 2014/2015 if:

• the school is unable to create a full-time resource base post that is allocated to either their school or a neighbouring school or
• the school has contacted at least 5 of the nearest base schools and they have no available surplus capacity.

A school can make a joint application for a full-time, fixed-term resource post for the 2014/2015 school year, provided that a base school in the neighbouring area does not have available surplus capacity.

Click here for application form for part-time resource teaching posts 2014/15
Click here to view FAQs - Part-time teaching posts to cover NCSE-approved resource hours for the 2014/15 school year

My school is in a cluster arrangement and we have now been sanctioned additional resource hours. What should we do?
A school can only break a cluster with the agreement of all schools involved – the chairperson of the other schools would have to sign off on releasing them. The new hours will either have to be clustered elsewhere or provided to them by a school locally that has a surplus. If no other schools locally have surplus hours then the school can apply to the DES for part-time hours.

Is it permitted to ‘bank’ additional resource hours?
If a school is granted part-time hours then these are then put on the OLCS system. If, for example, a school is granted an extra 5 hours per week, the DES will work out the number of weeks left e.g. there may be 30 weeks left to the end of June. The amount of hours that the school will have ’banked’ on the OLCS system will be 150 hours. Every time there is an entry on the OLCS system for these hours, the number of hours is subtracted from the 150. The DES is not in favour of the hours being kept to use as one large group of, say, 6 weeks. The hours are intended to be used weekly if possible. There will be flexibility allowed, however the hours cannot be carried forward to another year.

Published: 23 October 2014

New version of Textaparent.ie and Scheduled Downtime

To facilitate the changeover to our new version of TextaParent.ie and to ensure that it is a seamless transition for your school we will move during the October midterm break. The improved and more user-friendly website will go live on Wednesday 29th October 2014.

Textaparent.ie will not be available between 4pm Tuesday 28th October and 9am on Wednesday 29th October  2014.

Any messages scheduled for delivery during this time will not be

affected.

Over 2,500 schools use Textaparent.ie on a weekly basis, on a number of occasions we have delivered more than 100,000 messages a day through textaparent.ie.

Due to this volume of messages and to ensure we can accommodate increased capacity; we have redeveloped TextaParent.ie. In doing so, we have taken feedback from users over the last number of years and have simplified some features while enhancing others. 

Our latest upgrade will mean that high volumes of messages are delivered with minimum interruption or delay.

One of our main goals was to build a user-friendly and simple to navigate site. The new design allows the users to quickly send messages or schedule messages to send later

• Your Log-In details remain the same
• Your contacts, groups and Sender IDs will automatically transfer – no need for you to update any information.

When you log on for the first time, take a minute to navigate your way through the site.

All of your favourite features will stay –

• 4cent per message. A straight line price with no hidden taxes or charges to be added.
• Online payment option - Schools can also be invoiced for later payment, just email info@textaparent.ie
• No cost to parents for receiving messages.
• No set-up costs to schools.
• No minimum purchase amount required to avail of our low rate.
• Textaparent.ie is a not-for-profit service owned an operated by IPPN
• TextaParent.ie directly supports IPPN’s Principal Advice service.

If you have any queries please contact info@textaparent.ie

Published: 23 September 2014

EductionPosts.ie is the home of teaching jobs in Ireland. We carry more than 6,000 jobs in Irish schools and colleges each year and are used by more than 25,000 job-seeking teachers on an annual basis. If you are looking to reach an audience of Irish education professionals we invite you to look at EducationPosts.ie. 

Vital website statistics about EducationPosts.ie (September 2013-September 2014):

• More than 16 million pages of traffic have been generated
• More than half a million unique visitors have been logged
• More than 3 million online sessions have been generated by visitors
• The average time spent on the site per session is 4 minutes and 9 seconds.

This all adds up to the ideal choice for your online advertising.

Off peak season offers from October 2014:
We have just finished our busiest summer yet on EducationPosts.ie and as we face the off-peak season we can offer extra value packages to our advertisers.

We have 2 advertising products
1. Job Listing for directly advertising job vacancies to teachers and
2. Digital Display advertising which is suitable for a wide variety of marketing from product promotion to recruitment campaigns.

33% discount on Job listings
Advertise 5 jobs in one calendar month – Save 33% on rate card prices.
A bundle of 5 Job Listings in one month costs just €500 compared to €750 at other times.

Why not boost your Job Listing adverts by investing in some Digital Display advertising? Present teachers with the quickest way to land on your webpage. Add one month’s Digital Display advertising for just €450.*
*The price of €450 reflects 300,000 guaranteed serves of your advert but where capacity is available your allocation of serves will be automatically be increased.

25% Discount on Digital Display Advertising
Up to 25% discount on Digital Display for longer term advertising of up to 6 months

Click here to view our Advertising Rate Card

Click here for full details of all Discount Packages

Click here for the Advertisers Guide for Job Listings

Click here for the Advertisers Guide for Digital Display Advertising

Published: 18 September 2014

What breaks is an SNA entitled to?
Schools normally apply the same break entitlements to SNAs as to teachers.  If this is a 10-minute break in the morning and a 30-minute lunch break for teachers the same should apply to SNAs.  Circular guidance is not provided on this topic. It does not make for good staff relations if SNAs are treated differently in terms of breaks to teachers.

How do you calculate full-time SNAs hours?
Full day SNAs are contracted for 32 hours. If you divide 32 hours by 5 you get 6 hours 24 minutes per day. However the pupil is only in school for 5 hours 24 minutes per day. The confusion arises in the difference here, with IMPACT arguing that the SNA should only be working the lesser hours (5 hrs 24 minutes). The reality on the ground is actually somewhere between both.  The SNA has to be in school to receive their pupil(s). For most schools this is 10 - 15 minutes before-hand. The same rule applies at the end of the school day, where they may be needed to tidy up etc. This then equates to 30 - 31 hours actually worked by an SNA. The amount of time that an SNA has to be in before and after school is set down by the Board of Management.  For the full-time infant day, subtract 1 hour per day. SNAs work in reality between 25 to 26 hours - the infant day in school (4 hours 24 minutes per day) and the 10 to 15 minutes before and after school.

Is an SNA assigned to an individual pupil or to the school?
There are very few SNAs in schools now assigned to just one pupil. The norm now is that the SENO grants access to an SNA for a number of pupils. It is at the discretion of the principal, as the day-to-day manager of the school acting on behalf of the BoM, when and where and with whom the SNA works. All SNAs are required to assist with supervision. One of the key areas for supervision is yard duty.

There are very few SNAs left in the system that are on child-specific contracts. SNAs had to make a decision in 2005 whether to go on the new school contract or opt for a child-specific contract. There is flexibility for the principal to assign SNAs to best meet the needs of the school and to work with other pupils. Indeed many schools would have a programme whereby the 'designated' pupil(s) are given some independence and not totally dependent on an SNA. There may be issues if an SNA was designated to do work not associated with an SEN pupil, such as making the tea or secretarial work. There should not be a problem for an SNA to be working with other SEN pupils or preparing work under the direction of the teacher, such as photocopying, making flash cards, etc.  Bear in mind that SEN pupils cover a wide range from low incidence pupils to pupils below the 10% rank, traveller pupils, foreign-national pupils and so on. The latter three are included in GAM.