Special needs pupils taught in storage room

Parents of three children with special needs have said they were horrified to learn the youngsters were being taught in a windowless storage room in a newly opened €4.2m national school in Co Cork.

However, Dónal Ó Ciarán, principal of Rushbrooke National School in Cobh, said last night he was hopeful that plans to revamp facilities would satisfy the parents and fully serve the needs of their children.

One parent, Maria Fleming, has taken her 10-year-old daughter, Crea, out of class after finding she was being taught in the 30sq ft room.

Ms Fleming said when the new school was built, “it only had enough space for two special needs classes, instead of the three that were required”.

Plans to revamp the store room weren’t good enough, she said.

Another parent, Amy Read, said she had not withdrawn her son, Callum, 9, from classes, but was considering seeking another school for him. “I did contemplate withdrawing him, but my son needs the routine and structure of a school.

“If I could find a suitable school with space I would pull him out of there.”

She said she was “horrified and disgusted” that three children had been put into such a room.

Last night, Mr Ó Ciarán explained that the room was being used because it was next door to a sensory room, which was an essential calming facility for special needs children who become anxious or distressed.

He said the other facilities in the school were first-rate and that children enjoyed a 3:1 ratio of teachers per pupil, with one teacher and two special needs assistants in the class for the three children. This was a ratio unlikely to be matched in most schools nationwide, he said.

“I accept that the current situation cannot continue which is why I have applied for emergency funding from the Department [of Education] to revamp the room into a proper classroom. It is plenty big enough, being twice the size of the pre-fab the children were in last year. I have a builder already lined up and I am expecting an engineer’s report on the project [today].”

Mr Ó Ciarán said he was very hopeful the department will meet the modest revamp cost of between €8,000 and €10,000.

“I believe that we will then have a facility that will satisfy the parents and, most importantly, meet fully the needs of their children.”

Seán Sherlock, junior minister at the Department of Education, said when the application is received by the department he would do his best to ensure it was processed speedily.

But Cllr Kieran McCarthy (SF) said it was simply unacceptable to do up the room that reminded him of a “prison cell”.

Jonathan O’Brien, the newly appointed Sinn Féin spokesman for education, will raise the matter in the Dáil later this week.