Learning to cope with shrinking funds

MORE than €9,000 was given to St Oliver’s National School in Killarney just before Christmas to invest in its playground or on sports equipment.

Principal Rory Darcy was grateful but, given that the Department of Education invested €129,000 in the playground last summer, he would have preferred to use the grant to upgrade the school’s lighting system and spend any leftover cash on learning materials for the classrooms.

“We’re using the money instead to add a sensory area to the playground for children in our five special classes. But the trouble with the different grants from the department is that we have no autonomy in how to spend it.”