Nine children start full-time classes as staffing row resolved

NINE children who had been restricted to part-time classes at a special school because of a dispute over staffing levels have started full-time classes after the row was resolved.

Delighted parents told the Irish Examiner that an extra teacher is being funded for a month to allow St Gabriel’s Special School in the Cork suburb of Bishopstown to assess their individual needs and decide which classes they should join. After losing two of its 10 teachers since last summer, the school said it was unable to offer full-time placement to the nine new pupils who have severe autism or profound disabilities.

Instead, they were offered part-time provision of two or three days on alternating weeks, but the Department of Education and National Council for Special Education told the school this was unacceptable as it still had more staff than is normally sanctioned for a school of its size dealing with the category of special needs pupils it caters for.