The long term implications of the Small Primary Schools Value for Money Review has caused concern that many rural schools in places like County Galway face being shut down in the coming years.
This is the view of Fianna Fáil Galway East TD Michael Kitt who is calling on the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to make a firm commitment to protect small rural schools into the future.
In its submission to the Department of Education on the Small Primary Schools Value for Money Review Fianna Fáil demanded that small rural schools be protected from closure. Minister Quinn has confirmed that no early decision will be made in relation to recommendations on the future of such schools.
However Dep Kitt said this still falls short of “a long-term commitment” from the Government. He wants Minister Quinn to “to clarify this issue once and for all” and “come clean about the implications of ‘clustering’ rural schools”.
“Those of us familiar with the realities of rural living understand that as well as achieving high standards of education, schools are at the heart of our rural communities,” he said. “The Department of Education must take into account the role these schools play in their community and the wider implications of closure.”
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A COUNTY will have no Catholic secondary school next year in a new chapter in the history of Irish education.
Catholic school managers are worried about the decline in their numbers and say it is time to call a halt.
Co Leitrim will lose its only Catholic secondary school from September 2012, when the Fatima and Felim's, in Ballinamore, currently under the joint trusteeship of the Sisters of Mercy and the Diocese of Kilmore, become part of a new community school.
Next September, Abbeyfeale, Limerick, loses its only Catholic secondary school when the 340-pupil St Joseph's, previously run by the Mercy Order, becomes part of a new community college.
In September 2012, the Ard Scoil Mhuire, FCJ, in Bruff, Limerick, will close.
Decline
The Department of Education and Skills has not approved any new Catholic second-level school for 20 years, a period that has also seen a decline of 109 in their overall number.
The drop is mainly a result of rationalisation, leading to the establishment of either community colleges, under the trusteeship of the local Vocational Education Committee, or community schools.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Gabi Bagley, 5, dug through a box of Kid K’Nex toys, bypassing rods and cylinders until she found a purple, teardrop-shaped object about four inches long. “Does that fit your hand just right?” said Cyndi Lopardo, her Preschool for All teacher. “Bring it over.”
A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of Chicago and the surrounding area for The New York Times.
Two children compare hand size during a lesson that helps them learn measurement. Erikson Institute coaches evaluate teachers as part of an early-mathematics-education project.
Gabi was one of four children at Onahan Elementary School learning a mathematical concept — measurement — by searching for items the same length as their hands.
The lesson was developed by coaches from the Erikson Institute to hone the children’s ability to compare and predict size — skills that researchers from Erikson say provide a foundation for success in elementary math but are often neglected in preschool.
Ms. Lopardo has been teaching preschoolers for 17 years at Onahan Elementary. But she said the Erikson coach has helped her create more engaging and effective math lessons.
Full Story: www.nytimes.com
Ashbourne is to get a second Gaelscoil, and parents in Ratoath who were hoping to have their Irish school recognised by the Department of Education, are to merge this school with the new Ashbourne establishment.
The announcement that An Foras Pátrúnachta is to oversee the setting up of a new school in Ashbourne comes just weeks after an Educate Together school was earmarked for the town. Ashbourne already has a long-established Irish school, Gaescoil na Cille.
The new Gaelscoil and Gaelscoil Ráth Tó will merge to form an additional gaelscoil for the area which will be called Gaelscoil na Mí, according to Seán " Buachalla, of the board of management of the Ratoath school.
Mr " Buachalla said that the board, the school's supporters and all the Irish-language organisations involved in the 'Aitheantas' campaign were pleased that the Department had finally acknowledged the need for additional provision for Irish-language primary education in the area and hoped that this would lead to quicker recognition of new gaelscoileanna in the future.
"The final location of the school has not been confirmed as of yet, but all those involved are committed to getting a choice location that will service both Ratoath and Ashbourne equally," he said.
Full Story: www.meathchronicle.ie
Suffer the Children
Children in deprived areas of Limerick are asking friends for food on Fridays because they know they won’t get fed over the weekend, a new book on social exclusion in the city claims.
A teacher who spoke to Dr. Niamh Hourigan, editor of Understanding Limerick, said that even in cases where children show obvious signs of being beaten, suspected cases of neglect are not being prioritized by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
“All I hear from the HSE is, ‘We don’t have the power to do anything,’ or ‘We don’t have the resources to do anything.’ What can they do? That’s what I’d like to know,” the teacher told Hourigan.
It takes so long for neglect cases to get to the relevant HSE committee that the children are beyond help.
A social commented, “You take a child involved in anti-social behavior who you think is at risk. Well, the only way to get action for that child is to submit a child protection notification. But only a very small proportion of all original referrals actually get approved by the Child Protection Notification Committee based on budgets, etc. It’s only at that stage that you can have a case conference and get some action, and the process of getting it approved takes for f***ing ever.”
Another senior social worker said, “By the time we get to the point of intervening in a seriously neglected or abused child’s life, it’s nearly always too late to make any real difference. It becomes a matter for the psychiatric services or the criminal justice system, or sometimes the undertakers.”
Hourigan says the blame does not lie with front-line workers in social services in Limerick or even local HSE management, but concludes that the Limerick Regeneration project will not work unless the “crisis” in child protection services is dealt with on a national level.
Full Story: www.irishcentral.com
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