A fantastic, plastic education [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 July 2011
CHILDREN'S SUMMER CAMPS: Eager children are learning how to incorporate gears, pulleys and levers into their own Lego designs
THE BIG BLUE boxes brimful of Lego pieces are being plundered by a bunch of enthusiastic children. There are about 20 youngsters ranging in age from six to nine sitting at small desks or on the floor making trucks, cranes and motorised cars from Lego. They are completely engaged in their tasks, sometimes trading tips, other times busy searching for that crucial piece that will make the gears work or the pulley system operate more smoothly.
“I’m making a long truck,” says Brian (9), showing me how the gear cogs touch off each other and connect to a motor to turn the wheels. “I made a Lego car with a boot that opened,” says Daniel (6).
“The hardest part is getting the right Lego pieces,” says Christopher (8), who made a car that could crash into Lego walls.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Cutting special needs [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 July 2011
AS ONE might expect, this week’s protest by the parents of special needs pupils was dignified and respectful. But there was no disguising the depth of anger – even exasperation – among those present. One mother spoke movingly of how the Government was “turning its back’’ on some of the most vulnerable and needy in our society.
It is to be hoped the protest will help to concentrate minds in the Department of Education where the need to achieve cuts in special needs provision appears to have been given a curious priority for several years. Neither the previous administration nor the current Government have an unsullied record on the issue. The current cap on special needs assistants (SNAs) in schools was set by the previous government at 10,575. With 10,802 assistants in situ, the current Government is pushing for a return to the original cap, despite the potentially calamitous impact on pupils and families.
It would help if Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn and his officials adopted more than an accountant’s approach to special needs provision. Last month, the department’s value-for-money report on SNAs found there was an “over-allocation’’ of 27 per cent in primary and post-primary schools and 10 per cent in special needs schools. This was an extraordinary finding when one considers the State’s dismal history in this area. For years, the parents of special needs children were left to their own devices without much isuccour or support. While undoubted progress has been made, this is largely because of the courage of individual families who fought valiantly to vindicate their rights in the courts.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Facebook joins anti-bullying partnership [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 13 July 2011
FACEBOOK and Time Warner are ganging up on bullies to address a problem that torments millions of children and young adults.
The partnership announced yesterday calls for Facebook and Time Warner to use their clout to raise awareness about bullying and encourage more people to report the abuses when they see the.
Facebook’s participation reflects a growing recognition that its online social network consisting of more than 750 million people has become an outlet for harassment as well as friendship.
"We believe that by working together with parents and teachers, we can teach young people to speak up and stop bullying," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.
The anti-bullying campaign will be waged on the internet, on TV and radio and several major US magazines. It’s being billed as "Stop Bullying: Speak Up," a theme that Time Warner’s Cartoon Network has been trumpeting since last year.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod this week [irishcentral.com]
- Published: 13 July 2011
The Department of Education and Skills has been paying an estimated €1,800 a week to transport two West Clare teenagers with special needs by taxi to a school in Ennis because of the lack of a suitable educational facility in their locality.
Isabelle Sequin, 14, who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy, up to the recent end of term had been completing a round trip of 130 kilometers three days a week, while her twin sister, Clara attended St. Joseph’s Community College in Kilkee.
During the school year, Isabelle stays in an Enable Ireland house on Wednesday nights to try and reduce the impact on her condition of traveling from Carrigaholt to St. Clare’s in Ennis. The same taxi collects a second pupil with ASD from Moyasta, while it is understood yet another pupil is picked up along the way to Ennis.
Isabelle’s father Pat Gavin has hit out at the cost of transporting students from West Clare to Ennis and feels this money would be far better spent in providing a fully resourced special needs unit in Kilkee, which would mean teenagers with special needs would have the option of attending a local secondary school.
Full Story: www.irishcentral.com
Principals' Applaud Decisive Action by Ministers Fitzgerald & Shatter
- Published: 13 July 2011
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) welcomes the decision to place on a statutory footing, the Children First Guidelines, and the procedures for reporting suspicion of child abuse to the Gardaí and the HSE. This means that there will no longer be ‘guidelines’, as they will now be legally binding procedures. IPPN also welcomes the fact that the same procedures will apply throughout the country, and no longer be subject to local interpretation.
