Diocesan News09 Feb 12

Schools in Danger warns Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert

Church of Ireland primary schools are set to suffer disproportionately from Budget 2012 cuts in education, says the Rt Rev Trevor Williams, Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert.

The Bishop is  Patron of ten primary schools out of the eleven that exist to serve the Church of Ireland and Protestant community in the counties of Limerick, Kerry, Clare and parts of Galway and Tipperary, often in isolated places.  

This scattered identity was just one of several areas of disadvantage. Amidst the budget cuts, the withdrawl of subsidy for school transport is a great blow to families dependent on  connection between home and the nearest school of their choice.

Said Bishop Williams: “ Changes in school transport arrangements will mean that the life blood of our schools – getting the children to and from them each day – will be made more difficult and in some cases, removed.”

Indeed such isolation means that talk of amalgamation of Church of Ireland schools is not on the agenda.

“While the amalgamation of schools in some instances may be beneficial, this is not an option feasible for Church of Ireland schools,” said Bishop Williams “There is no other Church of Ireland School within a reasonable distance with which to amalgamate.”

Bishop Williams recently called a meeting of School Chairpersons and Principals  at Adare, to discuss the projected budget cuts, where, Dr Ken Fennelly, Secretary to the Church of Ireland  Board of Education spoke.  Dr  Fennelly said that some 65% of  174 Church of Ireland Schools in the Republic are affected by the Retention Schedule  and will loose a mainstream class teacher: 40 Schools have less than 26 pupils and 38 schools will become 1 teacher;  90 Schools have between 26 pupils and 86 pupils.

SPECIAL NEEDS
The Bishop added:  “Like all schools, Church of Ireland schools will see a reduction in the capitation grant of 6% over the next four years.  They stand to lose a teacher and have their class sizes increased

Resources for children with special needs are also being affected and the support for those with special needs has been an important contribution our schools have been able to make in the past.

“In this climate of decreasing resources and support, the Minister for Education and Skills is expecting teachers to increase levels of literacy and numeracy through the introduction of standardised testing and has directed schools to increase the amount of class time given to maths and English. In a multi–age classroom setting, with an increased number of pupils, this presents a particular challenge for teachers.

“In recent comments, the Minister has stated that the current situation of smaller class sizes in smaller schools is economically unsustainable. He has said that all he is doing is returning class sizes to the sizes similar to those of the mid–1990’s.

“However, that was before the mainstreaming of pupils with special needs which the Ministers own WSE reports have shown is educational best practice. A higher class size with a range of ages and fewer resources cannot be compared to single age classes with a very different curriculum and I believe that the Minister should look again at his teacher allocation schedule.”