8 new ASD classes for Fingal schools beginning this year

The Department of Education and Minister for Higher Education Josepha Madigan announced that there will be eight new ASD classes in Fingal schools this year.

Fingal TD and Fine Gael member of the Oireachtas Commitee on Education, Alan Farrell said the news was welcome.

“These new classes will expand the capacity of the education system to treat each child with the time and attention they need as individual students.

“The addition of eight new classes in Fingal for the 2021/2022 school year, will bring the total number to 54.”

“Overall, there will be 2,118 special classes available across the state, serving 12,700 students, this includes 169 new classes announced for September 2021, which will benefit approximately 1,600 students in mainstream primary and post-primary schools.

“Since 2011, we have seen a 386% increase in the number of special classes become available, making a profound difference to students and families across Ireland.”

The schools that will be hosting the classes are: S N Na H-Aille, The Naul, St George’s National School, Naul Road, St Catherine’s N.S in Rush, Skerries Educate Together N.S, Holywell Educate Together N.S, Swords Community College, Bremore Educate Together Secondary School, and St Finian’s Community College in Swords.

Announcing the publication of the list, Minister Josepha Madigan said: “The publication of the list of special classes for this September will be a great support to parents and families of young people with special educational needs, and confirms the commitment to ensure that young people have appropriate school places suitable to their needs.

“I am particularly pleased to see continued growth in the number of special classes across the country, with 269 new special classes being established this year to provide an additional 1,600 places across the country.

“I want to pay tribute to all our schools, particularly the schools who are establishing special classes for the first time.

“We are also adding an additional 990 SNAs to support the increase in special classes.

“All of this is backed by funding of €2 billion which was secured for the special education budget this year.

“Since 2011, the number of special classes in mainstream schools has increased by almost 386% from 548 to 2,118 for the 2021/2022 school year.”