Family and staff delighted as Leah Forde goes back to school

A change in the way Leah Forde is fed meant she needed a nurse to assist her in school, but a nurse wasn't provided since last October — until today

Leah Forde with her mother Michelle (left) and Anne Hartnett, principal, on her return to school after an absence of nearly a year at St. Paul's School in Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.

It took research, photo shoots, a series of newspaper articles and radio interviews, schedule juggling, and literally hundreds of phone calls and emails for her mum and school principal, but a little girl who had missed nearly a year's worth of school is finally back in her classroom.

"We were up at 6.30am today getting her ready and it was just great to see her getting onto the bus and getting off at the school," said Michelle, Leah Forde's mum. Michelle had followed the school bus up to the school to watch her daughter cross the threshold for the first day back.

Leah Forde from Turners Cross was a pupil at St Paul's School in Montenotte until last October when an improvement in the way she is fed meant she needed a nurse to assist her in school. As there wasn't a nurse guaranteed to be available every time Leah needed food in school she wasn't allowed to attend at all.

Leah, 10, has a rare chromosome disorder resulting in severe developmental delay. She gets a special blended diet through a tube into her stomach. In special schools the special needs assistants (SNAs) assist with feeding but for complex feeds such as Leah's it is a nurse's job to administer that feed.

Declan and Michelle, Leah's parents, were upset for Leah as she had thrived on the routine of getting the school bus and seeing classmates; and she enjoyed the singing, class projects, outings, and social interaction.

They had also been concerned that Leah would miss out on potentially learning to communicate as they hope she may eventually be a candidate to learn how to use an eye gaze system.

Leah is not able to walk or talk but she lights up when her mum launches into some favourite songs ('Tell Me a Story') or plays clips from the movie Ratatouille — Leah's favourite.

Leah Forde with her mother Michelle (left) and Anne Hartnett, principal, on her return to school after an absence of nearly a year at St Paul's School in Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane

School principal, Anne Hartnett, had waded into relentless bureaucracy in trying to get the issue resolved. She emailed Josepha Madigan (Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion), the Department of Health, the Department of Education, and the National Council for Special Education, trying to find out who ultimately had responsibility for supplying another nurse to the special school. 

Each department and sector said it was the others' responsibility. Ms Hartnett had also engaged with local councillors, TDs and other representatives in trying to solve the problem.

She emphasised that "it broke our hearts to have to send Leah home" and noted that "it's an issue that would affect so few children so it would be easy to solve".

Eventually, at the end of May the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) confirmed that " nursing support will be in place in St Paul's Special School in September 2023, at the start of the school year".

Nurse Jennifer Nunan with Leah Forde on her first day back at St Paul's School in Montenotte after an absence of nearly a year.

This week, nurse, Jennifer Nunan was right there at the doorway to welcome Leah on her first day back at school. And principal, Anne Hartnett, was busy greeting every child by name and with hugs and chats and admiring cool shoes, new ribbons, and smart cardigans on the boys and girls. 

She said: "On behalf of the staff and pupils of St Paul's School we are delighted to welcome Leah back to school at long last."

Michelle Forde said: "It was a long hard road — we were worried for Leah. And it took so much time and effort, I didn't like doing all the interviews and talking about our lives at all but it was our best hope of getting Leah back to school which she deserves. 

Our only concern now is that we don't want COPE to have to re-allocate money for the nurse's role. It should be the State paying for this as COPE needs the money for other projects and all the other children.

A spokesperson at DCEDIY has responded that COPE has "a Service Arrangement with the HSE where quantum of service and level of funding is outlined and agreed. COPE received additional funding this year compared to 2022 so have sufficient funding to manage this".

COPE Foundation said: "We are delighted to see the return of students to St Paul's School. COPE Foundation does not comment on individual cases."