School News
Batt O'Keeffe
(Minister, Department of Education and Science; Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 635 to 638, inclusive, together.
My Department estimates that approximately €48m will be spent this year on the rental of school accommodation. The funding is to cover costs relating to continuing existing rentals and any new approvals for the next school year. It is too early at this stage to provide details of new school approvals for the coming year. Details of the schools currently renting temporary accommodation are given in the attached tabular statement.
Schools requiring additional temporary accommodation from next September must apply to my Department for approval. An application form can be downloaded for completion from my Departments website at www.education.ie. The school should indicate in a covering letter any particular issues involved such site issues. It should also demonstrate to my Department why the additional accommodation is required such as for increasing pupil numbers resulting in the appointment of an additional teacher etc.
A number of factors are taken into account in determining an appropriate size for a prefabricated primary school classroom such as curricular development, the pupil/teacher ratio and the fact that the number of pupils in a classroom may vary from year to year to take account of departing classes, and new enrolments.
Generally it is the current practice of my Department to use a guideline of 80m2 as a standard size of general classroom. This is sufficiently large to comfortably cater for a class size in excess of 30 pupils. It should be stressed however that this is a guideline and it may not be possible or viable to achieve it particularly due to factors such as site constraints. It is also the case that where the accommodation is required for purposes other than as a general classroom the size of unit provided may vary.