2026-06-24

My question relates to the reception class in St. Joseph's Co-Educational Primary School in East Wall in Dublin 3. A reception class has been running there since 1984. It is in its 43rd year. It is a pre-junior infants class, so effectively there is a three-year infant cycle. It was one of four pioneering schools that has run such a class. Now there is only one school in the country providing such a reception class. The fantastic thing about this reception class is that it is not like preschool or a crèche . It is about the first step in adapting to the school environment in disadvantaged communities, such as my own in Dublin Central and particularly in East Wall, which is a really diverse community that has had many decades of disadvantage. That reception class is critically important in affording children the ability to access supports for language development, school readiness and transition into junior infants. We know that not every child going into junior infants in this country goes in as an equal. There is no level playing field. Some children, particularly in more advantaged families go into primary school with far greater social and educational skills, but it is different in other areas. In particular we know there is uneven access to literacy and numeracy for preschool-going children. The reality is that this is a very important class that has worked well for many decades in St. Joseph's Co-Educational Primary School. Earlier this year, the school was told that it was going to lose the post that allows it to continue running that class, which would have a devastating impact for many across the community. The reality is we do not have many preschools in the East Wall area. We have two preschools, and then you have to go as far as Seán McDermott Street to access the next preschool. There is a huge gap in the area, but that alone is not a justification for holding on to the reception class. The reception class does amazing work. The Holy Child Pre-School in Rutland Street, which started as a pilot, has performed a similar and brilliant role over many decades but it has been left in limbo by the Department. There has been a reduction in the early intervention classes being run out of primary schools in recent years. I passionately believe these classes have a very important role particularly in disadvantaged communities. Will there be ongoing certainty for St. Joseph's in East Wall with regard to the continuation of that reception class into the future? It has certainty for the coming school year but not beyond that. There is an enormous appetite and demand within the local community to ensure that the reception class, albeit that it is unique across the education system, continues long into the future to support children to adapt to the primary school environment.

I thank Deputy Sherlock very much for raising this matter. As she rightly said, a reception class has been in operation in St. Joseph's Co-Educational Primary School, East Wall, since 2002. This class operates as a preparatory infant year for four-year-olds. The reception class was one of a small number that operated prior to the establishment of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme, to provide pre-junior infants education in certain communities. With the wide expansion of the ECCE scheme, this is now the only reception class that operates in the country. The Department has engaged with the school in respect of its teaching allocation for 2026-27 and has sanctioned a teaching post for the reception class for 2026-27. The Department will continue to engage with the school early in the 2026-27 school year with regard to the reception class. The early childhood care and education programme is a Government-funded, universal preschool programme designed to give children their first formal experience of early learning before primary school. It is funded by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. To cut to the chase, back in 2002, this class was sanctioned and it has been operational within St. Joseph's Co-Educational Primary School for quite some time. I have no doubt what Deputy Sherlock has articulated this morning are the facts. It has been a huge enabler for children prior to going into primary school and has given them certainty in it. Sanction was given for this year and, as it is one of the only ones operational in the country, we continue to engage with and monitor it. A lot of investment and funding has gone into the education system and we continue to do that in urban and rural Ireland. The commitment I can give the Deputy today is that there will be early engagement with the school authorities in the next school year because we understand the value of it. It has been articulated in various documentation through the Department and extremely capably by the school authorities. As the Deputy mentioned, it targets a particular cohort in a challenged community and has been a great enabler for it. We have sanction for 2026-27 and we are serious about engaging early in the school year in the forward planning for it. When it has been in operation - if my maths are correct, it is going into its 25th year this year and it has a long-established tradition - generations of students have benefited from that year. However, we have to evaluate it because we continue to invest in trying to upskill all school communities. The school community there has done amazing work and has taken advantage of the extra year to make sure the students coming from disadvantaged areas benefit fully from it, as the Deputy articulated. Our commitment is for this year, 2026-27, and we will engage early with the school authorities again. I will take the valid points the Deputy made strongly on board as we prepare to engage with the school authorities early in the next school year.

My request is that the Department show ambition, particularly regarding communities where not every child goes to school equal at the age of five. The role and value of the reception class is critical, not just for the East Wall area and it should be looked at in other areas. It is also important to say, as I understand it, this is not the first time there has been a wobble in the Department about the reception class for St. Joseph's. The class started 43 years ago. It was terminated around 1999-2000 but the Department reinstated it in 2002. That is the critical thing. This class has worked for generations of people in East Wall. It has worked for other schools as well. Unfortunately, it was taken away in other schools. The Department needs to seriously look at and build on the work of DEIS plus and all that, by looking at particular schools and the transition into the primary school system. While the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme is fantastic, it is a one size fits all and that is not good enough, nor should it be the height of ambition for the Department of education. Particularly in disadvantaged communities and diverse fast-growing communities like East Wall, it is critical we hear from the Department that it is willing to continue funding the post and this class long into the future. The teachers tell me they can see the results when a child goes into junior infants and that has to be recognised and broadened out in the education system.

There has been a huge amount of investment at Department of education level in terms of disadvantage, including in DEIS and so on. We are not blind to the fact that there are massive challenges in some communities with disadvantage. We are applying the resources to make sure we give every child the best possible chance in disadvantaged areas and across the education system. In parallel, the early childcare scheme has been hugely funded. The funding that has gone into it in the past quarter of a century to bring it up to standard has been quite amazing. There are two pieces. One is the early childcare scheme to make sure we are giving two years - it is not long ago that it was just one year - and to make sure children are as prepared as possible to go into primary school. We are constantly looking at where patterns and initiatives have developed in communities. The Deputy is right that this goes way back, beyond the 25 years since 2002. It was to capture a particular cohort of students. We continue to invest in the DEIS programme and to monitor it. This programme has been operating in the school for quite some time. We continue to monitor it and engage with the school and the outcomes. We have to be mindful of the investment going into the education system and the most important measure of that is to make sure children have positive outcomes when they go from primary school to post-primary school and on to adulthood. We have to constantly evaluate that to see whether we are targeting the right resources at the right communities, and to make the best possible choices for children into the future.