THE problems faced by schools filling vacant principals’ jobs could be worsened if the Croke Park public service pay deal is rejected, it has been claimed.

MORE than one-in-10 special needs assistants (SNAs) working with pupils with disabilities have been lost in primary schools despite official claims that the losses resulting from a review would be nowhere near as high, a survey of 850 schools has found.

GOVERNMENT policy of integrating children with special needs into mainstream schools will be pointless if there are more cuts to staff helping them in class, a principals’ leader warned yesterday.

SCHOOLS will continue to ensure child abuse is stamped out but must be given statutory guidelines on reporting and other child protection issues, a principals’ leader has claimed.

THE move to start cutting assistants working with children with special needs (SNAs) from next week will not be reversed, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has insisted.

Met Éireann is warning of large snow falls across the east of the country this afternoon, severely disrupting transport, as the sub-zero conditions show no sign of abating.

PRIMARY principals have insisted that they are giving priority to newly qualified teachers for substitution work but said graduates could be taken off the dole if the Government set up a supply panel system.

THIEVES who wrecked a special school and robbed computers worth thousands of euro have also stolen a little boy’s voice.

By Seán McCárthaigh THE first specialist educational unit for teaching autistic children at a national school has been approved for funding by the Department of Education.