Schools plan adds 7,500 places
August 30, 2013
Unions say 15 new schools, 3 extensions are barely adequate to meet demand
INTO says 10,000 pupils starting school will add to overcrowding at primary level
Fifteen new schools will open across the State this autumn and three more have undergone extensions, together providing almost 7,500 permanent school places. But this is barely enough to keep up with growing demand, according to a teachers’ union.
The 18 new and extended schools were built under the “rapid delivery programme”, a fast-track scheme launched in 2007 to deliver schools quickly in areas experiencing rapid growth, where there is no existing school or the existing provision is unable to meet demand.
Together, the 14 primary and four postprimary schools will provide 7,488 permanent places, the Department of Education said. The pupils would benefit from “modern, energy-efficient buildings and improved learning environments”, a spokeswoman said.
Overcrowding
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation argues, however, that the extra 10,000 new pupils starting school this year would cause more overcrowding in primary schools.
A record 70,000 new pupils will enter the system in 2013, said INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan. Irish primary classes were already the second-most crowded in the EU, with an average of 24.5 pupils, she said. The EU average is 20, and Luxembourg is the country with the lowest at 15.
The Irish figure was an average, and at the most crowded end of the scale Ireland had more than 100,000 children in classes of 30 pupils, she said.
The largest class sizes were found in counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. Other schools with large class sizes were found in urban centres in Limerick, Cork and Waterford.
Growing population
While the new school places were very welcome, they are barely able to keep up with the rise in pupil numbers, said Peter Mullan of the INTO. “That is just keeping pace with the demand for more spaces in a growing population,” he said.
All but six of the new schools are ready for use, but of these six, four are only days away from completion, the department said. Another, in Navan, is due for completion later this month and another, in Carlow, by late October. Nine of the new schools are in constituencies where a Government Minister holds a seat.
The department uses a geographical information system to assess the likely changes to the schoolgoing population in those areas, the spokeswoman said.
New Schools
Primary Schools
Carlow Educate Together NS Co Carlow
Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin, Clonakilty Co Cork
Carrigaline Educate Together NS Co Cork
Scoil Phádraig Naofa, Rochestown Co Cork
Portlaoise Educate Together NS Co Laois
Gaelscoil Phortlaoise Co Laois
Maryborough NS, Portlaoise Co Laois
St Francis NS, Blackrock Co Louth
St Stephen’s NS, c/o St Martha’s College, Johnstown Co Meath
Gaelscoil Inis Córthaidh, Enniscorthy Co Wexford
Greystones Educate Together NS Co Wicklow
Postprimary Schools
Luttrellstown Community College, Blanchardstown Dublin 15
Lusk Community College, Lusk Co Dublin
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, Claregalway Co Galway
Coláiste na Mí, Navan Co Meath
Extensions
Gaelscoil Moshíólóg, Bóthar Charn an Bhua, Guaire Co Wexford
Scoil Choilm, Porterstown Rd, Clonsilla Dublin 15
Skerries Educate Together NS, Barnageeragh Cove, Skerries Co Dublin
www.irishtimes.com
Nationwide Project: ‘Life’s Like This’
August 29, 2013
We want you to be a part of our nationwide project: Life’s Like This
On Friday 20th September we want you to film your life and tell the world what you’re doing, feeling or seeing on this particular day. The footage submitted will be compiled into a unique documentary that will be broadcast later this year on RTÉ. Audiences will learn what it’s like to be growing up in Ireland today.
Life’s Like This is your documentary. It is about you. It’s about your day. It’s about things that are important to YOU. It’s open to everyone between the ages of 13 and 19. Further details on Life’s Like This will be available from September on www.rte.ie/trte/lifeslikethis.
Your films can be uploaded through www.rte.ie/trte/lifeslikethis from Friday, September 20th, to Tuesday, September 24th.
HOW AND WHAT TO FILM
• You can FILM ANYTHING ON ANYTHING
• You can film using your phone, camera, a webcam, iPad… you name it. If it records you can use it. Just try for the highest quality possible please!
• Sound and focus is important. We need to be able to hear and see clearly what’s happening.
• You can speak in any language at all – English, Irish, Polish, French..etc
• Your film should be a maximum 2 minutes long.
• At the start of your film tell us your name and what time it is when you’re filming.
• You can film anytime of the day and/or many different times of the day once it’s on Friday 20th September.
GETTING YOUR FILM TO US
• Submission deadline is 8PM on Tuesday 24th September.
• Remember to get permission before you film. Only films which are accompanied by a permission form signed by both parents can be used. Every person who appears in your film needs to have a permission form signed by their parents or themselves if they are 18 or over. You can upload, post or email them all together.
• Remember you must ask people’s permission to film them.
• If you have a scanner, scan the signed permission form and upload it together with your film on the tool on the right hand side.
• Include your parent’s mobile / contact phone number AND the names of the people featured in your film in the MESSAGE section when uploading (very important!)
• If you don’t have access to a scanner you can post a hard copy of the permission form/s to Life’s Like This, Macalla Teoranta, 7 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2 but ensure to include the full name of your film clip on this form.
• When saving your film on computer CALL the clip by YOUR full name (first name and surname).
• If you cannot upload your film then send it, along with your permission form by post to: Life’s Like This, Macalla Teoranta, 7 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2. It will not be possible to return films sent by post.
• A wide range of clips will be included in the documentary, unfortunately however it will not be possible to use every clip.
• Enquiries to: lifeslikethis2013@gmail.com or phone: 01 670 4012 or 01 670 4895
PLEASE REMEMBER:
IF WE DO NOT HAVE A SIGNED PERMISSION FORM FOR EVERY PERSON FEATURED IN YOUR FILM CLIP – WE WILL BE UNABLE TO INCLUDE YOUR FILM.
DOWNLOAD THE PERMISSION FORM FROM www.rte.ie/trte/lifeslikethis AND POST TO US AT: Life’s Like This, Macalla Teo, 7 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2.
On Friday 20th September you are a filmmaker.
You are part of history.
Do something real and make people think. It’s over to you.
MORE INFORMATION
On Friday September 20th we want you to film a maximum 2 minutes of your day. Anything goes:
• An appointment with the dentist
• Homework completed on the bus
• A haircut
• A song
• A cow milked at dawn
• A night out with friends
• A family get-together
• A sporting event
• A viral video or Facebook session
Published by Macalla Teo.
After 19 years on road Gaelscoil gets €3.15m home
August 29, 2013
A Gaelscoil that started out in a dancehall 19 years ago moved to a permanent home in a ¤3.147 million purpose-built school in Clonakilty, Co Cork, yesterday.
There were high-fives from local priest Fr Eddie Collins as the children of Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin climbed the steps to the new building.
Principal Carmel Nic Airt, who started out with 17 students on September 1st, 1994, has overseen classes in a former Church of Ireland teacher’s residence, a mobile home, a holiday home and a bank.
“This is the culmination of 19 years’ effort. It’s what I’ve worked for, and what I’ve wanted, and to think it’s happened is so gratifying.”
Ms Nic Airt, who collected the keys to the new school on Fernhill Road just 24 hours previously, praised the co-operation and leadership of the Department of Education.
“They are a much maligned body who really have stood behind us right from the very beginning,” she said.
‘Tabtop’ facilities
The Gaelscoil is home to a gateway technology project which has equipped 40 students in fifth and sixth class with interactive “tabtops” linked to a TV screen that replaces the traditional whiteboard.
Part-sponsored by Intel and German electronics company Grundig, the tabtops are a cross between laptops and tablets and will phase out the need for heavy schoolbags.
“The teachers need never raise their voice again; just send a message to a particular child that might not be co-operating, with no need to disturb the class,” Ms Nic Airt said.
Some 200 students took part in a march from the school’s former rented premises at Clarke Street through the town centre to arrive at their new school for a formal flag-raising ceremony yesterday.
The 265 pupils and 25 staff will have the use of 12 classrooms, three autistic spectrum disorder rooms including an early intervention unit, four support rooms and a general hall as well as playground areas.
Wish list
“If somebody told you ‘sit down and write a wish list for a school with everything you could want’, this is that and more, because there are things here that I would never have dreamed of,” Ms Nic Airt said.
www.irishtimes.com
Pupils march their way to new school
August 29, 2013
It was a long, long, road which, in the end, culminated in a short walk that brought a town to a standstill. People lined the streets of Clonakilty , Co Cork, yesterday to cheer hundreds of pupils as they walked from a rented school to a new, state-of-the-art €3.17m home.
A gaelscoil was founded in the West Cork town in 1994 and, since then, pupils and staff had a fairly nomadic life. Yesterday represented their seventh and, hopefully, final move. Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin is named in honour of locally-born General Michael Collins, the state’ s first finance minister.
Among the teachers is Lorna Ni hAoda who had been a pupil at the gaelscoil in 1996. “At the time, we were in a house in Emmet Square. We had three classrooms and no proper facilities. There was no hall and a tiny yard. The facilities here are amazing. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’ s like all our Christmases have come together,” she said.
Principal Carmel Nic Airt, meanwhile, was the first teacher to launch the gaelscoil with 20pupils. “At one point, from 1999 to 2009, we were in a field with 29 prefabs. There was damp everywhere and, every weekend, we had to spray the walls to get rid of the mould, ” she said. “Now we have 12 mainstream classroom, three ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) units, four support units, basketball courts and a soft surface play areas for autistic pupils. If you were to write a wish list for a school this has everything and more. ”
The pupils vacated the school’s last leased accommodation, at The Waterfront yesterday, walking behind a garda escort provided by local gardaí Liam Ryan and Keith Prendergast. As they strode through the town, people spilled out of shops and clapped them all the way to their new home at Fernhill Rd on the western side of the town.
Parent Carmel Brennan described it as “a wonderful and historic day”. She said some of the conditions pupils had endured over the years “were less than ideal”. As the children entered the school, they gave ‘high fives’ to curate Fr Eddie Collins. They then sang the national anthem and raised their own
school flag. Relatives of General Michael Collins, including grandnephew Maurice Collins, grandniece Fidelma Collins and great grandniece Muirenn O’Sullivan, were among the guests of honour. She told pupils Collins would be very honoured to have the school named after him.
To cap the occasion, Timothy Crowley, who runs a local Michael Collins Interpretive Centre, presented the school with a small replica statue of the great man. It’ s a miniature, but an exact copy of a seven-feet high sculpture, unveiled by actor Liam Neeson in the town’ s Emmet Square 11 years ago.
www.irishexaminer.com
FNT ar lorg breis teagascóirí le cur le painéal teagascóra na heagraíochta
August 28, 2013
Trí Ghaelscoil nua le hoscailt ag an bhForas Pátrúnachta
August 28, 2013
Information for Parents from the NCCA
August 27, 2013
The NCCA have published a series of leaflets for parents to help them to support their children through school. The leaflets are available in Irish and English and can be downloaded from www.ncca.ie.
€742,438 awarded for Irish Language Assistants Scheme for 2013/2014
August 27, 2013
Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley T.D., last week announced a grant of €742,438 for the 2013/2014 school year to run the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme.
This scheme, which was launched in 1999, focuses on enriching the level of Irish among students, and encouraging the use of the language as a default means of communication among the students. In April 2012, significant developments to the scheme were announced under the Family Language Support Programme as part of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language. Under this scheme, 80 language assistants provide support services in 100 Gaeltacht schools.
For the 2013/2014 academic year, the grant will be divided between two organisations, Muintearas and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. Muintearas will hold responsibility for service provision in Gaeltacht schools in Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Meath, and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne will assume the same responsibility for Gaeltacht schools in Kerry, Cork and Waterford.
This year’s allocation of funding sees the scheme reduce by 2.5% on last year’s figure of €762,378. As substantial changes were made to the scheme recently, last year’s figure represented an increase of over €150,000 on previous years. The increased funding allowed for further resources and greater contact hours with pupils.
‘Cluas sa Chlós’ (an ear in the yard), was a new initiative launched last year under the scheme to encourage the use of Irish outside of the classroom so that Irish would be the primary means of communication among students playing in the school yard. While the scheme previously focussed solely on the children in the school who did not have Irish, last year saw the introduction of supports for all pupils by providing extra contact hours to all schools located in areas where Irish is the primary language of the community.
Speaking on the announcement of the funding, Minister of State McGinley said: “When I launched that Programme in April 2012, I referred to the importance of an amended approach to the practical support of Gaeltacht families who are raising their children through Irish or who wish to do so. The grant announced today will enable the two organisations that administer the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme to continue to actively support the preservation and strengthening of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht.”
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Is Leor Beirt ar ais i gCeatharlach!
August 27, 2013
Doors to 11 new schools set to open
August 27, 2013
Tears flowed for infants and parents parting at the classroom door for the first time, but they are not the only ones marking new beginnings this week.
The doors to 11 new schools will swing open over the coming days in response to the latest baby boom. These are newly established schools, separate to new buildings that may be occupied by existing schools. Among them are seven primary schools taking in their first infant classes, five in Dublin, and one each in counties Cork and Kildare. There are two new Galway second-level schools and one each in Dublin and Meath. All 11 are multi- denominational schools under the patronage of Educate Together, local education and training boards (formerly vocational education committees), or An Foras Pátrúnachta. Many are in temporary premises until new purpose-built schools are ready to occupy, but they will only be enrolling infant or first-year classes each year, so it will be a number of years before they all need to have permanent full-capacity accommodation.
The largest new primary school is the Rochestown Educate Together National School in the southside suburb of Cork. It will eventually have a 24-classroom school although it will not be completed this year. But the infant class has already had a taste of what lies ahead in their temporary home at the Douglas Hall soccer club grounds. A play day for incoming pupils at the weekend gave children and parents a chance to meet each other and their teacher Noirín Moore. “The children were very excited to see where their new school will be. We look forward to meeting them all for their first day of school on Thursday, and having a cup of tea or coffee with the parents to mark this special occasion in the lives of their family,” said principal Alan Sheehan. While there are no faith-based schools opening this year, two new denominational second-level schools are set to enrol their first students in 2014. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn announced a year ago that a Church of Ireland school is to open in Greystones, Co Wicklow.
A new school will also open in a year’s time in the Mulhuddart/ Tyrellstown area of Dublin under the patronage of Le Chéile Schools Trust. The eight other second- level schools set to open in Sept 2014 include three all-Irish schools, in Carrigaline, Co Cork, and Balbriggan and Dundrum in Dublin. An all-Irish unit is to be attached to a new school opening in Maynooth, Co Kildare, with the prospect of it becoming an independent Gaelcholáiste if enough enrolment interest is shown in the first four years.
www.irishexaminer.com
