Outrage as Kildare school gets extra class but no teacher

A NAAS primary school has been approved for an additional Junior Infants class – but not the extra teacher.

The department of education has approved a new class to accommodate 25 additional Junior Infants this September but, incredibly, has not approved a teaching post to staff the classroom.

Both Deputy Aidan Farrelly and local councillor Bill Clear have called on the Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton and the Department of Education to immediately provide a teacher for an additional Junior Infants class approved for St Corban's National School in Naas.

Cllr Clear said he has been inundated with calls and messages from worried parents who were informed earlier this year that their children had secured places in the school in a town under severe population pressure.

"I am absolutely flabbergasted that this situation has arisen,” he said.

“For the first time in the history of Naas, we had children without school places due to the enormous population growth in one of Ireland's fastest-growing towns.

“Following significant work by the school, parents, public representatives and the Department, an additional class was finally approved, yet somehow a classroom has been approved without a teacher to teach the children. It simply defies belief."

The Department of Education gave this statement in response.

“The department’s staffing schedule clearly sets out for all schools how teachers are allocated,” said a spokesperson.

This is available on the Department’s website, and is basically a table that allocates staff numbers per enrolment.

“The key factors for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level are the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

“Additional teachers are allocated when pupil numbers increase above the thresholds set out in the schedule.

“Where pupil numbers are below these thresholds, schools organise their classes to operate within the existing teacher allocation, which is sufficient to ensure a mainstream class teacher for all pupils.

“This staffing schedule operates in a transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally”.

Deputy Farrelly believes this will require the amalgamation of two senior infants classes into a single class of 34 children, “which would significantly exceed the Department’s recommended pupil-teacher ratio of 23:1.” 

“The correct solution is for the department to accept that this is an exceptional circumstance, and allocate an extra teacher to the extra class they have created.

“We have spent weeks in communication with the Department officials, but they refuse to allocate the extra teacher.” Cllr Clear said parents are now facing unnecessary uncertainty only weeks before the start of the new school year.

"Parents need certainty. They need to know whether their child will have a place in school this September.

“We cannot continue planning communities without ensuring the necessary educational resources are in place."