IT’S time we paid more than lip service to parental choice in education.

Nearly 50 communities around the country have been identified as the sites where the Catholic Church should first hand over control of primary schools.

PARENTS of Muslim children would like greater provision by schools to facilitate prayer and flexibility around their religious holidays.

The National Parents Council (Primary) has expressed concern that parents who are members of school boards might find themselves personally liable in legal actions taken against the boards.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin has reassured parents serving on school management boards that they are legally protected in the event of a court case against them.

PARENTS of primary pupils are worried that Government plans will make it easier to kick disruptive children out of schools, instead of giving teachers the resources to tackle bad behaviour.

PARENTS have welcomed the publication of school inspection reports for the first time, but said a wider package of information to allow them compare schools should also be available.

PARENTS have urged researchers and companies not to use schoolchildren to test or market their products.

THE Government must end its piecemeal approach to school transport and make it the responsibility of a single department, parents have warned.

A SCHOOLS’ programme to help children identify suspicious behaviour and protect them from abuse could be made compulsory in all schools, Education Minister Mary Hanafin has said.

PARENTS have described the Catholic Church’s guidelines as more of a judgment measure than a protection measure for children.

AN EXTRA 400 primary teaching posts will be created over the next two years to help reduce class sizes, Education Minister Mary Hanafin promised yesterday.

PAID supervision of pupils should be extended before and after school to mind children being dropped off early, according to school managers.

GARDA background checks are still not being carried out on workers in schools, community groups or the childcare sector, almost a year after the Government announced an expanded vetting service.

FAMILIES are turning to charities for assistance in meeting annual costs of over €2,500 to send their children to school.

Paul O’Brien

I ASSURE Tom Cunnane (Irish Examiner, May 31) that National Parents Council Primary has, over the past 20 years, developed well researched and democratically formed policies.

REPORTS on school inspections will be published in future to give more information to parents, Education Minister Mary Hanafin said yesterday.

IT was a day of solidarity. A day when pupils across the country stood as one, united by grief.

MORE THAN 20 parents who failed to ensure their children attended school face a €600 fine and could go to jail for up to three months, the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) has warned.

A MEDICAL expert has warned that Irish children will be killed if they take part in a ‘game’ where they block air to their brain to make themselves faint.

PARENTS have been urged to exercise caution and think of their children’s safety ahead of the Halloween weekend.

A GROWING number of primary schools no longer have Church involvement in their day-to-day running, according to a management body.

PARENTS and teachers have welcomed Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s promise that no primary pupils will lose learning supports under a revised staffing system.

BACKGROUND checks will be carried out on most people who work with children, the Government is expected to announce today.

THE average cost of sending a child to school last year rose 5% to €1,023.

A SHORTAGE of sports facilities in thousands of primary schools is contributing to a fitness crisis among children, parents warned last night.

SAFETY has been urged on the roads as thousands of children return to school this week.

PARENTS have welcomed a court decision allowing public access to school inspectors’ reports despite fears among teachers of unfair comparisons being drawn from them.

THE concerns of parents about vetting the background of school staff working with children will be raised with Education Minister Noel Dempsey tomorrow.

OFFICIALLY, the nationwide consultative process initiated by Education Minister Noel Dempsey is aimed at shaping the education system. Unofficially, many teachers feel it’s a waste of time.

PARENTS should not take their children out of school during term time to avoid higher holiday travel costs, teachers have warned.

PARENTS who take their children out of school during term could be fined, the national agency that monitors pupil attendance has warned.

MORE than 40,000 teachers are unlikely to receive pay increases until at least next month because of continued failure to agree on the timing of parent-teacher meetings.

THOUSANDS of families will be hoping Education Minister Noel Dempsey gives an early Christmas present to their children’s school when the 2004 building programme is announced today.

ENLIGHTENED parents throughout Ireland are angry, though not overly surprised, at the growth in serious bullying among young schoolchildren.

THE Government is beginning a major overhaul of the way teachers and other resources are allocated for primary school children with disabilities.

A PARENTS’ group has blamed the Department of Education for the shortage of primary school places that has resulted in one boy having to stay at home.

THE Government spends less on pre-school education than the majority of developed countries, a report has found.

PARENTS and politicians joined forces yesterday to call for a nationwide book rental scheme to cut the exorbitant cost of sending children back to school.

PARENTS should begin preparing children now for their first days in school which are only three weeks away, experts have advised.

THE cost of sending three children to school this autumn is likely to exceed €1,000, according to parents’ representatives.

PARENTS have called on the Government to set up a long-awaited clearance system for people working with children.

THOUSANDS of families whose children use school buses can expect a refund on tickets after an embarrassing gaffe by the Department of Education.

AROUND 2,000 pupils with special needs will have to wait months before getting access to resource teachers because of Government red tape.

THE Catholic Church should give up control of schools because many of them are enrolling their own members before children of other faiths, a parents leader said at the weekend.

TEACHERS have told parents they are not responsible for pupils in the time before school doors open in the morning.

INFANT class sizes should be reduced to identify and help children with learning difficulties as early as possible, according to the National Parents Council.

ONE of Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s key aims since his appointment has been to eliminate disadvantage in the country’s education system.