Revised Criteria and Procedures for the Establishment of New Primary Schools .....

The launch of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector on 19 April, under the chairmanship of Professor John Coolahan, was followed on 27 April by the publication of the Report of the Commission on School Accommodation on Revised Criteria and Procedures for Establishment of New Primary Schools. This Report was requested by the Minister for Education of the day in 2008 and carried out under the direction of the Commission on School Accommodation.

Following are the Executive Summary and Recommendations. The full Report may be accessed through the Department of Education and Skills Website at www.education.ie/home  

Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, made his first speech as Minister  to the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) Annual Conference on 11 March. All of his speeches since then are available on the site.


Executive Summary and Recommendations
Summary of Part One – Current Position

Part One explores the background factors relating to new school establishment,
outlines the views received as a result of consultation with the public and the New
Schools Advisory Committee (NSAC) and reviews international practice in relation
to establishment of new schools.

The population of the country experienced an unprecedented increase in the past ten
years. Despite the current economic downturn, the effect of this recent population
increase is that growth in demand for school places is set to increase over the short to
medium term. The overriding objective is to ensure that a school place is available to
every child.

The process by which the need for new schools arises, is identified, planned for and
delivered has been the focus of considerable comment and analysis in recent years.
Economic growth and net in-migration followed by high birth rates drove the need to
rapidly provide an increased number of new primary school places, especially in fast
developing areas around key cities and towns.

At the same time of increased demand for pupil places, there has also been a demand
for increased availability of different types of schools, particularly multidenominational
and Irish language medium schools. It could also be the case that demand in future could
arise for other diverse types of schools. Since the publication of the White Paper on
Education (1995) Irish society has changed dramatically.

The increased diversity in our population is reflected in our schools with many schools
being more diverse both in terms of pupil enrolment and also in terms of diverse
approaches within them. This is particularly the case in urban and suburban areas but
the change is not just confined to these areas.

In areas of significant demographic growth it has been possible to meet much of the
demand for increased choice of provision through the establishment and construction
of new schools. However, in areas where new schools do not need to be established
for demographic reasons, demands still continue for the increased choice in provision.
The Group considers that the Department has to ensure in the first instance that every
child has a school place available to them. The Group further considers that the
Department should take all reasonable measures to ensure that there is a choice of
patronage of schools available where there is a critical mass of demand for such
choice, having regard to the finances available.

The Group considers that new policy options need to be explored to seek to realise
such a choice of patronage and these are discussed later in this report. In these
circumstances, the Group recognises that it is not practical for every student to be
provided with access to a place in a school operated by a patron of their choice. The
Group also recognises that in areas where there is not a demographic demand for new
schools, it is very difficult for the Department to justify the allocation of capital
expenditure on the construction of new schools given the prioritisation needed in the
Department’s capital budget to provide for the demographic increases as well as the
historic under-investment in school buildings.

The possibility of the Catholic Church divesting itself of certain primary schools was
raised by Catholic Church authorities initially. At the request of those authorities, the
Department of Education and Skills undertook to identify possible areas where the
demographics and existing school configuration was such that there might be potential
for the Catholic Church to consider divesting patronage.
In this regard, in August 2010 the Department identified forty three possible town
areas and a number of Dublin city areas. Out of all the areas identified, ten areas were
selected at random for more detailed analysis. They are also areas that have a
predominance of denominational school provision.

The publication of the outcome of the Department’s identification exercise in August
2010 was welcomed by the Irish Bishop’s Conference and the Conference has invited
consultation and debate within the Church on the way forward.

A total of twenty seven submissions were received in response to the public
consultation. Issues addressed in the submissions included the following:
• Minimum number of pupils required for the establishment of a new school.
• Views about the Community National School concept
• Views on the concept of shared campus,
• Views on the policy around all-Irish education
• Views advocating the co-trusteeship patronage model adopted at second level
in the Community Schools
• Proposals in regard to the regulation of patrons.

The New Schools Advisory Committee (NSAC) encountered a number of key issues
during their period of operation (2002 – 2008) and during the consultation expressed
views on the following:
• Minimum number of pupils required to establish a school
• Diversity and the need to have procedures to provide diversity
• Inspection process
• Special schools

Internationally, the practice in regard to new school establishment is that the relevant
central Government authority may decide to establish a new school, based on need,
and this decision is generally made following a public consultation process.



Summary of Part Two – Future School Planning

Key steps in the planning and delivery process are:
• Identifying the requirement for school places
• Choosing an appropriate patron
• Planning and delivering a school building

Detailed demographic analysis is necessary in order to determine the requirement for
school places. CSO population projections show that pupil numbers could grow by an
additional 64,000 pupils by the year 2018. The challenge is to identify the locations in
which the increase will be experienced most significantly so that accommodation can
be put in place to meet needs. The Dept of Education and Skills is able to determine
the number of additional pupil places required in an area with the aid of its GIS. If
these places cannot be provided through extension of existing schools, the only option
to meet the need is to establish a new school. The Department will decide on the size
of school required to serve the long-term educational needs of the community
following consultation with the patron bodies.

The choice of a school patron is a critical one.

A number of elements in patronage need to be addressed:
•  Introduction of a process for approving a new patron independently of
    recognising a patron for a new school
•  A process for changing patronage of an existing school
•  Establishment of criteria for patron recognition
•  Time scale for new school establishment
•  Criteria for the assessment of the effectiveness of a patron

Co-operation between patrons is required to cater in a cost effective manner for
diverse needs in particular areas where there may be spare capacity available or
where there may be opportunity to share buildings and/or campuses.
Shared campus arrangements can offer good synergies.



Summary of Part Three – Proposals and recommendations

Part Three makes recommendations in regard to the system for establishing new
schools.

There are a number of recommendations for the development of the criteria and
procedures for the recognition of new primary schools.

• In the first instance, the arrangements now in place within the Department of
Education and Skills for the identification of the need for the establishment of
new schools are noted.

• Next, recommendations are made in relation to the process for patron selection
of such schools.

• There is then an outline of the issues in relation to parental demand for choice
of patronage where new schools are not required for demographic reasons,
issues in relation to transfer or change of patronage are discussed and
recommendations are made.

• Subsequent to this, some more general issues in relation to the role of the
patron generally are discussed and

• Recommendations are made to establish a patronage advisory group with the
role of advising the Minister on a number of matters in relation to patronage.

Identification of the need for the establishment of a new school
The Department will proactively identify the areas where significant additional school
accommodation is required. The Department will decide that a new school must be
established following consultations with the patron bodies.

Selection process for the patron of a new school
The selection of a patron requires detailed work at a local level. A number of criteria
are suggested to be adopted in the selection of a patron. Among them are the strength
of parental demand for the proposed school type and how the proposed school would
extend the choice of provision in the area and protect the ideal of social inclusion,
having regard to the rights and views of parents. In an area to be served by a single
school, the extent to which the needs of all pupils in the area can be met by the school
is very important.

Parental demand for choice; transfer and change of patronage
The Group considers that there is a need to consider how best to meet parental
demand for provision of alternative choice where there may not be a demographic
need for the establishment of a new school.

A number of suggestions are made:
• The Group considers that the Department should, in line with the legislation,
have procedures for the receipt and consideration of applications from
prospective patrons in areas where there may not be a demographic need for
the establishment of new schools.

• The Group considers that the NSAC process needs to be replaced.

• The Group also considers that in concluding as to whether a demographic need
might be met through extension projects in local schools, the Department
should not seek to extend accommodation in existing schools of a certain
patronage, where there is a certain level of demand for patronage of a different
type in that area.

• The Group considers that there may also be potential in the use of existing
vacant spaces in school buildings in areas where there may not be a
demographic need for a new school.

• The Group notes the consideration of divesting underway within the Catholic
Church referred to in Part One and the work underway in this regard. The
Group considers it vital that these developments realise greater diversity of
patronage through maximising the use of existing infrastructure.

• The Group also considers that there may be other potential for linguistic
diversity to be realised without a change of patronage, for example an existing

English-medium school may change to become an Irish-medium school or an
Irish-medium element may be introduced in an English-medium school.

• The Group considers that there may be other transfers of patronage between
patrons which could contribute to increasing diversity of patronage in an area.

General issues in relation to the role of the patron.
It is recommended that there should be separate processes for inclusion of a new
patron in the Department’s patron register and the recognition of a patron of a new
primary school.

Parental demands for choice of patronage
As outlined in Part One, it is important that Irish-medium education is supported by
positive policy implementation that embraces a range of solutions for Irish language
education. Primary education has a pivotal role in the preservation and expansion of
the first official language so that the demand for Irish medium education should be
supported in any system for the establishment of new primary schools. Government
policy as outlined in the “Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge 2010-2030” particularly in
relation to education, should inform the policies and the plans of the Department of
Education and Skills in relation to all-Irish medium education. This should result in an
agreed and planned delivery of all-Irish medium education into the future.
There is also an increasing parental demand for multi-denominational and nondenominational
education as outlined in Part One and the State has attempted to meet
its obligations to respond to that demand by supporting the establishment of increased
numbers of multi-denominational schools in recent years.

Campus development recommendation
Campus developments provide synergies and benefits. It is recommended that a
template for good campus management is adopted to be used nationally by all schools
in campus arrangements.