SNA Allocation Delay not OK
In the last school year, there were 3,421 Special Educational Needs pupils in 585 classrooms nationwide, a figure that is projected to increase in the 2015/16 school year. The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme was designed to promote inclusive education. This is achieved by providing schools with additional adult support staff to cater for children with special education and significant care needs with minimum disruption to class or teaching time.
Resource Teaching Posts for 2015-2016
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network, the professional organisation representing 6,600 Principals and Deputy Principals in the 26 counties, welcomes the certainty that today’s announcement of next year’s allocation of resource teaching posts for children with complex needs, brings to schools.
Principals urge state to support schools in tackling obesity crisis
The research report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) today, placing Ireland close to the top of the league table, is truly a cause of alarm. The Irish Primary Principals Network, the association which represents 6,600 primary principals and deputies nationwide, has been highlighting this emerging problem for a number of years.
IPPN supports small boost for small school
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) is pleased to learn of Minister O’ Sullivan’s policy shift on small schools. Seán Cottrell, CEO of IPPN stated ‘The positive impact of reducing the number of children required to retain a teacher cannot be underestimated. When a small school loses a teacher it can often have a devastating effect on the school and its broader community.’
‘Recognition by the DES that some small schools are in isolated locations is also significant. Lifting the threat of closing small schools in remote locations is a major boost to morale. These measures bring some comfort to many isolated communities’, stated Brendan McCabe, IPPN President.
