Schools braced for loss of SNAs [theecho.ie]
- Published: 04 March 2010
SCHOOL PRINCIPALS across county Co. Wexford are bracing themselves for the imminent loss of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) after a spending review by the Department of Education.
According to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe, the review is designed to identify “surplus posts, which do not meet the current criteria posts that have been retained when a pupil’s care needs have diminished or where the pupil has left”.
However, former Scoil Mhuire principal, and current president of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN), Pat Goff, said the review was a “cost-cutting exercise”.
Full Story: www.theecho.ie
Will Church-free secondary schools get the go-ahead? [Independent.ie]
- Published: 03 March 2010
The multi-denominational group Educate Together is to step up its campaign to open its first second-level schools amid growing signs of Government reservations about the idea.
Parents from all over the country gathered at a second-level Educate Together information session in Dublin at the weekend.
Paul Rowe, the chief executive of the group which runs primary schools, called on parents to lobby public representatives for the opening of the new post-primary schools.
Over the past decade Educate Together has been the fastest growing educational sector in the state.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
BT to bring innovation from classroom to boardroom [siliconrepublic.com]
- Published: 03 March 2010
BT’s Business of Science & Technology mentoring programme has been launched to help students progress from the classroom to the boardroom and turn good ideas into commercial opportunities.
This new mentoring initiative is an additional dimension to the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.
Some 53 students from 13 counties were invited to take part in the programme as they were winners of intermediate and senior categories, the overall Top 4 performers and the winners of merit from the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2010.
'We are being denied freedom of choice' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 03 March 2010
Parents of children at five multi-denominational schools in Lucan are furious that their hopes for an Educate Together second-level school have so far been thwarted.
Parents in the west Dublin suburb have been campaigning for a school for up to a decade.
Carol Dunne, a mother of two children at Griffeen Valley Educate Together National School, said: "Under the Constitution, parents have the right to choose what type of education they want for their children, but this is being denied to us.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Infants who miss thousands of school days go unchecked by govt [labour.ie]
- Published: 03 March 2010
Cllr Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, a Labour Councillor and North Inner City Principal, has said that the National Educational Welfare Board, established to monitor school attendance, is powerless to intervene as thousands of school days are being lost by four and five year olds every year.
Cllr Ó Ríordáin said: "The Board, established under the Educational Welfare Act 2000, is required to investigate cases of school absenteeism. However one provision within the 2000 Education Welfare Act states that the functions of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) are limited to children between the ages of six and sixteen.
Full Story: www.labour.ie
