Westlife's alma mater blasted by inspectors [Independent.ie]
- Published: 29 May 2010
A school that boasts Westlife members and a former Taoiseach among its past pupils has been accused of failing to practise what it preaches.
The Mission Statement for Summerhill College in Sligo town, Co Sligo, promises to educate its pupils in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ and his church.
But when Department of Education inspectors visited they found that these values "were not consistently evident in many of the college systems and in interpersonal relationships".
Nor was the promise of inclusivity kept as the same inspectors found the college "does not facilitate the full inclusion of students in all curricular activities".
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Minister Haughey opens National Seminar Making your Education Plan Work Better for You: New Tools for Embedding Equality into Education Plans [education.ie]
- Published: 28 May 2010
Seán Haughey TD, Minister for Lifelong Learning today opened the National Seminar Making your Education Plan Work Better for You: New Tools for Embedding Equality into Education Plans.
The seminar was hosted by the Equality Authority and organised in co-operation with Department of Education and Skills, the Further Education Support Service (FESS) and the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA).
This important event took place at the Department of Education and Skills Clock Tower Conference Centre, Marlborough Street in Dublin.
The focus of the seminar is to showcase and disseminate the learning from three VECs who were engaged in pilot projects to put in place equality mainstreaming action plans within their particular organisations.
The seminar demonstrates the benefits and ways of embedding equality into VEC Education Plans, and also features the equality tool developed by FESS to support the equality dimension within the Further Education Training Awards Council (FETAC) Quality Assurance.
Opening the seminar, Minister Haughey said 'I am delighted to be here today to officially open this timely Equality Authority Seminar.'
'The purpose of today's seminar is to inform policy and decision makers in the VEC sector on how to mainstream equality into their programmes and educational policies.'
Full Story: www.education.ie
72 inspection reports published on Department's website [education.ie]
- Published: 28 May 2010
A total of 72 school inspection-reports were published today on the Department of Education and Skills' website.
New inspection reports on the web today include
- 21 whole-school evaluations (WSE) at primary level
- 2 whole-school evaluations at post-primary level, including 7 subject inspections
- 40 stand-alone subject inspections
- 1 stand-alone programme evaluation
- 1 evaluation of a centre for education
Since 6th February 2006, school inspection reports such as WSE and subject Inspections are published on the Department of Education and Skills' website at regular intervals throughout the school year.
There are now 3690 school-inspection reports on the website, representative of 1611 schools or centres for education.
Whole-school evaluation reports comment on the school's management, planning and management of resources; the effectiveness of teaching and learning; its arrangements for student assessment, supports for students, provision for minority groups and home-school links.
Full Story: www.education.ie
Tánaiste opens new €2.7million Scoil Eoghan, Moville [education.ie]
- Published: 28 May 2010
The Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan TD, today (Friday, May 28th) opened the new €2.7 million Scoil Eoghan, Moville, Co Donegal.
The new state-of-the art school consists of eight classrooms, two special tuition rooms, a library and a general purpose hall.
Scoil Eoghan has 220 pupils and a staffing complement of 14.
Speaking at the school, the Tánaiste said: 'this project was provided under the Generic Repeat Design (GRD) model which means that schools are delivered in a faster and more cost effective way.
'The GRD model is an off-the-shelf solution to advance straight to pre-tender stage for a template primary school design package which can be given to design teams.
'Such an approach saves time and money and delivers permanent primary school accommodation that meets the highest construction standards.'
Full Story: www.education.ie
Families will receive help to meet school uniform costs [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 27 May 2010
LOW-income families have been assured that they will be able to apply from next week for help towards the cost of school uniforms despite delays with the scheme last year.
Almost 140,000 families received help for an estimated 277,713 children in 2009 under the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, at a cost of around €67 million, up significantly on the families of 200,000 children who benefited a year earlier and 180,252 children in 2007, when the total paid out was €40m.
Those households where a social welfare or Health Service Executive (HSE) payment is being made generally qualify for the scheme, as well as those on certain employment schemes or training courses and who have an income below certain levels.
The maximum weekly earnings allowed to qualify have increased by 1% from last year, to €410.10 for a lone parent or €563.60 for a couple with one qualifying child, rising to €499.50 or €653 for those with four children.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
