€1,800 a week for school taxi [clarechampion.ie]
- Published: 07 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 130km three days a week, while her twin sister, Clara attended St Joseph’s Community College, 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 travelling 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.clarechampion.ie
Good things come in small sizes... [sligochampion.ie]
- Published: 07 July 2011
AFTER THE recent threat to the future of small schools, reporter Emma Gallagher and photographer, Carl Brennan, visited one such school in the parish of Mullaghroe, to hear at first hand the pivotal role it plays in the local community.
Situated on the fringe of Gurteen, Mullaghroe N.S. is a two teacher school that accommodates 45 pupils. Kevin Gallagher, principal, and Maura Murray look after the senior and junior cycles respectively.
The benefits to the local community of having a national school are endless, especially when services like the post office, shop and community centre are transferring elsewhere. Maura, a native of Mullaghroe, explains that the school acts as the focal point for the community, which is primarily dependent on agriculture as a means of employment.
Full Story: www.sligochampion.ie
Free special needs pre-schooling plan [IrishTimes]
- Published: 07 July 2011
THE GOVERNMENT has said it will consider providing two years of free pre-schooling for children with special needs under its early childcare and education scheme.
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald told an Oireachtas committee yesterday she wanted to extend the scheme from one year to two years for children with special needs. However, she said no Government decision had yet been made on the proposal, which would have financial implications.
“Developmentally, many children would benefit from it,” she told The Irish Times after her first appearance before the Oireachtas health committee. “The kind of needs they have would become clearer in the course of the second year and they would be better prepared for primary school.”
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Teacher training course reform [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 07 July 2011
HUNDREDS of prospective primary teachers could be ineligible for training courses under higher standards of maths, Irish and English being demanded by the profession.
The Teaching Council is proposing major rises in the minimum Leaving Certificate grades needed in all three subjects for entry to the main primary teacher-training degrees.
Most of the 1,000 or so school-leavers who begin Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes each year perform well above existing requirements, but the planned changes could rule out hundreds more who still meet Central Applications Office (CAO) points requirements.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Pupils at Gaeltacht school 'have little Irish when they start' [corkman.ie]
- Published: 07 July 2011
FACILITIES at Ballyvourney school Scoil Abán Naofa, and the Irish language skills of incoming Infants, are not up to scratch, according to an evaluation by the Department of Education and Skills.
The report, released online last Thursday, commends the teaching practises and learning resources of the gaelscoil but has made reccommendations regarding the Infants classes and the school building.
The report states: 'it is obvious that the rooms being used are not suitable and that there is an urgent need for the provision of an effective learning environment for the pupils'.
The whole school evaluation (WSE) advised that the school hall and playground of the Muskerry Gaeltacht-school be refurbished and that issues with accommodation be addressed.
Full Story: www.corkman.ie
