'Voluntary contribution' is another burden on parents [wicklowpeople.ie]
- Published: 10 August 2011
SOME parents have described the cost of sending children back to school as 'crippling', according to one Bray mother.
'My son is going into senior infants,' she explained. 'It will cost €50 for the uniform, another €50 for his books. The old uniform can't even be kept to pass on to his younger brother when the time comes as it is so well worn at this stage it's only fit for the bin.'
On top of that, there is a 'voluntary contribution' of €200 per household.
'It's crippling' said the Bray mother. 'I have a younger child who will also be going to school in a couple of years. The costs can only increase.'
Greystones councillor Ciarán Hayden, pictured right, outlined a lengthy list of fees to equip his three children for the forthcoming term.
Full Story: www.wicklowpeople.ie
THE COST OF SCHOOL [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 August 2011
WITH SEPTEMBER just around the corner, parents are struggling to bear the financial burden of sending their children back to school.
Last week, Barnardos revealed the findings of a recent schools costs survey, which found that the cost of sending a child into junior infants can be as much as €350.
This rises to €470 for a fourth class pupil and €805 for a first year student.
These figures only cover the costs of uniforms, shoes and schoolbooks, and do not include the money spent on school bags, travel or sports equipment.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Free schools outperform fee-paying schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 10 August 2011
PRIVATE FEE-PAYING schools in Ireland are performing no better than their counterparts in the “free” State sector, according to an international study.
It concludes that parents who spend more than €5,000 a year on fees in private schools are receiving no additional premium for this investment.
The report by two Israeli academics compared the performance of students from State-run and fee-paying schools in the OECD/Pisa survey of 15-year-olds in maths. It found public schools actually delivered better results when all factors, including the selective enrolment policies of some fee-paying schools, were taken into account.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Homework in the holidays? [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 10 August 2011
My son was given a spelling exercise book from his aunt recently while we were staying with her and other members of the family. “For rainy days,” she announced. She’s a teacher – I forgave her.
He actually seemed quite excited about it and flicked through the pages straight away, although I couldn’t help noticing a distinct look of envy when he saw the prehistoric animals book his brother had been given.
Well, we actually did have a rainy day (quelle surprise!), so the book came in very handy and I sat with him for quite a while going through the exercises, adding missing letters to spell words correctly, matching rhyming words etc. This is a book which supports the school curriculum for his age so it was very educational.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
We are hurting children with our fearful obsession to keep them safe [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 10 August 2011
WERE you bullied at school? I don’t think I was nor do I remember being much of a bully. But it really depends what you mean, doesn’t it?
Once upon a time, the reasonable definition of bullying meant big, strong kids physically picking on the weaker ones. But, these days, there has been a certain amount of mission creep, encouraged — it has to be said — by campaigners disguised as charity workers. Bullies, we are encouraged to believe, are everywhere.
So when the increasingly commonly accepted definition of bullying has been widened from violence to include being teased, called names, having your stuff messed with, or even just being ignored by other kids, who could look back on their childhood and say that they weren’t bullied, or that they never bullied somebody else?
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
