Ten special schools included in therapy support phases
Following the commencement of the first phase of the enhanced in-school therapy supports pilot announced in August, Minister O’Gorman, Minister Foley, Minister Rabbitte, Minister Naughton, senior HSE and NCSE officials have today welcomed the further announcement of ten special schools included in the second phase of the pilot.
The focus of the pilot is to provide the effective delivery of enhanced in-school therapy supports to children in selected special schools, managed in a coherent and collaborative manner.
Subsequent to detailed deliberations by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Education, the HSE and the NCSE, which looked at a range of criteria including considerations around lessons learned from the rollout of Phase 1, the level of educational need, and existing levels of resources available in the respective Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs), a number of schools were selected as being most suitable for the second phase.
This suitability does not diminish the existing needs of other schools, the selection of these schools reflecting a combination of areas of relatively greater need and capacity to deliver on the Pilot objectives.
Eight special schools in the Dublin/Cork area were selected for inclusion in Phase 2 and, in the context of the imperative to ensure deliverability of the previously agreed Government commitment to include a further ten schools in the pilot, the selection process was extended to a third location from which the final two schools were selected.
In Dublin, the special schools included in the second phase of the pilot are: Cheeverstown House, Kilvare, Templeogue, Saplings Special School, St Mary’s Convent, Ballyroan Crescent, Rathfarnham, and ABACAS Kilnamanagh, C/O St Kevin’s Special School, Treepark Road, Kilnamanagh.
Key stakeholders including the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Education, the Health Service Executive, lead agencies, the National Council for Special Education and special schools will continue to collaborate to ensure the effective delivery of this pilot.
The Steering Group overseeing this pilot will continue to meet on a weekly basis to ensure the expansion of the pilot is as efficient as possible and communication between stakeholders is clear and effective.
The expansion of this pilot to the additional ten schools is expected to commence, on a phased basis, starting in January 2025, subject to discussions with relevant stakeholders.
Minister O’Gorman commented: “Today’s announcement is a further positive step towards supporting children with complex needs and their families. It comes following comprehensive engagement between officials in my Department and their counterparts in the Department of Education, the HSE and NCSE. I welcome the expansion of in-school therapy supports pilot programme to a further ten schools and look forward to seeing the improved outcomes for these children and their families as part of the overall Government effort to improve children’s disability services across the country under the Progressing Disability Services programme. This integrated approach will seek to ensure the educational, health and social needs of children are met with the support of appropriate services.”
