Parents get say in school changes

Parents are being asked to have a direct say in possible changes to how primary schools cater for religiouslydiverse groups of pupils.

Their experiences and expectations gathered as part of a public consultation will feed into a Government White Paper, promised by the Coalition in 2011 to ensure schools cater for all religions and none.

The first step was the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector whose report last year recommended parents be surveyed in areas where there is not enough choice of schools for families who do not want their children taught in a Catholic school. This was done in 43 areas, and plans are in place for the hand-over of a Catholic primary school in two-thirds of the towns to an alternative patron from next year.

But the issue affecting far more families is how non-Catholic children are catered for in so-called ‘standalone’ schools — more than half 3,250 primary schools, mostly in rural Ireland — where there is no other school within easy access for local pupils. The forum report last year recommended the promotion of best practice, leading to the consultation launched by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn yesterday.

As an aid to making submissions, leaflets available on his department’s website and from local parents’ associations set out recommendations in last year’s report of the expert group that oversaw the forum, including suggestions that:

- Enrolment policies should be clear on how places are allocated when demand exceeds available space;

- Schools need to make appropriate provision for children whose parents do not want them taught religion.

National Parents Council-Primary chief executive Áine Lynch urged families to engage in the process.

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