Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 May 2017
338. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the challenges a designated developing school (details supplied) is having in relation to provision of sufficient special needs assistant, SNA, support. [19746/17]
View answerMy Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including SNA support. The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in the Department's Circular 0030/2014 in order that students who have care needs can access SNA support as and when it is needed.
Responsibility for deciding on the quantum of educational supports and resources to be allocated to schools to support individual pupils rests with the NCSE. In making allocations to schools, the NCSE takes into account the assessed individual needs of all children with identified needs in the school. The consideration of professional reports is an integral part of determining the extent of supports to be provided for pupils with special educational needs.
SNA allocations are not made to individual children, but are made to the school to support the care needs of children with assessed special educational needs in the school.
I am aware of correspondence received by my Department outlining the position of the school to which the Deputy refers. The NCSE has advised that the school submitted an appeal to the NCSE in respect of the school's overall level of SNA support and the appeal was not upheld as it could only take account of the applications and the documentation that were available to the NCSE at the time of the initial decision. The NCSE has also advised that following new applications for access to SNA support, the SENO visited the school to conduct a care needs review and a letter issued to the school in March informing the school of an increased allocation to 7.49 SNA posts.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2017/18 school year by 6th April 2017. The NCSE will consider all applications for SNA support which have been made by schools. SENOs will continue to process applications for access to SNA support which are received after this deadline. Such applications will be processed in the order in which the applications have been
received.
Schools will be advised of their revised SNA allocations for the 2016/17 school year, prior to the end of the current school year.
All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.
