Tag Archives: department of education

Anxious about your Leaving Certificate results? The Exam Helpline 2015, provided by the National Parents’ Council Post Primary, will be open to offer advice, information and support when the results are released on Wednesday The 1800 265 165 Freephone helpline will be open from 10am on Wednesday to take calls from students, parents and teachers seeking advice and up to date information on what choices are available to students. The Helpline is sponsored by eircom, supported by the Department of Education and Skills and staffed by members of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. The Helpline received thousands of calls last year, helping students make informed decisions about the choices they face and their future career paths. All queries on third level courses, the points system, rechecks, repeats, CAO procedures, apprenticeships and further training options will be dealt with in a professional and confidential manner. The opening hours of HELPLINE 2015 are: Wednesday, August 12: 10am-7pm Thursday, August 13: 10am-7pm Friday, …

Clare Senator Tony Mulcahy has proposed that the legal starting age in the Irish education system for a child be reduced to three years of age in order to extend special education support services to preschool-going children. Senator Mulcahy was speaking in Seanad Éireann this week in response to an address to the upper house by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan in which she outlined the proposed introduction of a new inclusion support service to assist schools in supporting children with special educational needs. Administered by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), the service will include the special education support service which provides training for schools in how to assist pupils with special educational needs,as well as the national behaviour support service which provides guidance and support to schools in dealing with behavioural issues. Until now these support services have been managed separately within the Department of Education. “No one in society should be denied the right to go to …

The Department of Education has said schools and colleges have been cleared not to open if a Status Red weather warning has been issued in their area, as Storm Rachel takes grip along the west coast. Met Éireann has a Status Red warning in place for exposed coastal and mountainous areas in Clare, Galway, Limerick, Kerry, Donegal, Sligo and Mayo until noon on Thursday. According to Met Éireann, wind gusts of 130 to 150km an hour are possible as well as high seas near the shore. The Department of Education said schools should consider not opening where a Status Red weather warning related to wind is forecast. The high winds could coincide with the periods during which students and staff would be expected to travel to and from school. The full guidance is available on the department’s website General guidance from the National Co-ordination Group on Severe Weather asks that the public monitors Met Éireann’s forecasts for each area, to be …

Work has finally begun on the €7 million development of a new secondary school in Tulla and the first signs of diggers and a compound being erected has been met with delight locally. The project will see St Joseph’s Secondary School moving to a new greenfield site. Works include the development of a new two-storey 650 pupil school building, comprising 26 specialist classrooms, 10 general classrooms, a PE hall, a general purpose hall, kitchenette and offices, staff areas, a two-class special needs unit, sanitary and ancillary accommodation. Site works that are underway include the demolition of an existing derelict farm compound and further works include the provision of 48 car parking spaces, with accessible parking via a new ‘in-out’ access point from the R462 public road, as well as pedestrian access and pick-up facilities. Construction is expected to take somewhere between 12 to 14 months to complete. Tulla-based TD, Timmy Dooley said, “Having worked tirelessly with others on this project …

MOL an Óige Steiner National School in Ennistymon was this week granted permanent recognition by the Department of Education. School principal Una Garvey told The Clare Champion that the news is a huge boost to the school, which is the first Stenier school in Ireland to receive this recognition. “It’s a complete validation of the Steiner approach and Steiner methodologies. It’s a recognition of all of the fantastic work that goes on in the school. This says that this school does wonderful work, does it in a different way but it delivers the curriculum to the children and gives them what they need,” Ms Garvey said. She also believes this development validates the Steiner approach to the public. “It puts it in the public sphere. We know what we do inside here and we know how well it works. But now it’s in the public domain that the Department of Education also recognises the good work that happens inside here,” …

PLANNING permission has been granted to St Patrick’s Comprehensive School, Shannon for a major extension. The extension is to be two storeys in size, with a gross floor area of 2,616m2. It is to accommodate a special needs unit, general purpose area, engineering room, lecture room, art room, science laboratory, music room, home economics room, multimedia room and business/computers room, while there will other site works, including a new site entrance, car parking and set-down areas, as well as a hard court and hurling wall area. Clare County Council had sought additional information regarding a number of aspects of the development, including the drop-off areas, road safety, flood risk and the removal of trees. The applicants submitted the additional information sought and the planning authorities expressed satisfaction with the replies. With regard to the removal of the trees, the planning report states, “The existing tree line is to be removed as part of the improved traffic management arrangements to accommodate …

The Department of Education, in conjunction with Clare Education Centre, has approved two summer courses specifically designed for primary school teachers to run at the Loop Head Hedge School during July and August. Each programme is designed around the Loop Head natural environment and consists of a suite of ICT related workshops,  covering the Loop Head coastline, pathways into folklore writing and a combination of creativity workshops designed to incorporate literacy, numeracy and ICT across all curricula areas. The programme has been developed and approved in response to requests from primary teachers,who have attended the Loop Head Summer Hedge School modules over the past two years. The programmes are delivered by artist, author and habitat researcher, Carmel Madigan together with author and masters graduate in writing, Patricia Byrne.  

THE Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn this Friday officially opened a new school for Ennis National School. The project cost in the region of €6.7 million. The school, at Ashrine, Kilrush Road in Ennis, was provided with a grant from the department and was further funded by the board of management to the tune of approximately €300,0000 to provie a larger general purpose room, changing rooms and the installation of a playing pitch. It is about a mile from the old “Nash” at the Carmody Street/Kilrush Road junjction. Speaking at the school, Minister Quinn said, “I would like to take this opportunity to extend my best wishes to aboard of management, staff, parents and the wider community are all to be congratulated for their hard work which made this new school possible”. Ennis National School has 594 pupils and the new building is a two storey, 32 classroom school, with large hall, changing rooms, and ancillary accommodation on …