Four Mayo special education schools to receive additional supports

A number of Special Education Schools in county Mayo will benefit from additional targeted supports.

Minister of State, Alan Dillon TD, announced that four Special Education schools will benefit from the appointment of an administrative deputy principal from September next, while two schools will see an increase in their post-primary teaching hours.

He said: “I am delighted that my colleague, Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion, Hildegarde Naughton T.D., today announced details of the arrangements to apply for the application of the additional targeted supports for special schools.”

Special schools provide an education for children and young people with the most significant special educational needs. A key feature of Budget 2024 is the provision of an additional €11 million specifically targeted at these schools.

This additional funding provides for:

• the removal of the current 15 teacher threshold for the appointment of Administrative Deputy Principals in special schools and;
• a further 100 teaching posts targeted at special schools with post-primary aged students.

Minister Dillon continued: “This means that St Anthony’s and St Brid’s Special Education Schools in Castlebar and St Dympna’s and St Nicholas schools in Ballina will have an administrative deputy principal allocated from September while St Anthony’s and St Nicholas’ will also benefit from an increased allocation of post-primary teaching hours from September next.

“The additional Administrative Deputy Principal posts will be instrumental in assisting the four Mayo principals with leadership and management functions and to support learning and parental and community engagement,” he concluded.

Nationally, 89 special schools will benefit from the additional Administrative Deputy Principal posts from September next. Over 50 percent of the students in special schools are aged 13 years and over.

The additional post-primary teaching posts will facilitate the two Mayo Special Education schools to deliver a greater range of national curriculum subjects at junior and senior cycle, providing access to programmes that are age and stage appropriate, and that build on individual strengths and promote progression and transition.

The additional posts have been converted into a bank of post-primary teaching hours (co-operation hours) and will be allocated to schools on a pro-rata basis, in accordance with the number of students aged 13 and over in the school.