Appeal to retain teacher at Trim Educate Together NS

News that Trim Educate Together is to lose one of its eight mainstream class teachers two months into the school year has come as a hammer blow to the school.

The school enrolment of 189 fell just three short of the required numbers and the school community is now urgently appealing to the Department of Education to reinstate the eighth mainstream teaching post at the school arguing that it will have a huge impact on the children and friendships to be split at this stage of the school year.

The decision will also push the pupil-to-teacher ratio well up above the national average of 1 teacher to 23 students.

Local Social Democrat councillor Ronan Moore, whose three children attend the school, said that the Department of Education has signalled they are to take away the 5th class teacher, who is currently employed on a Developing School Post.

He explained: "The number of teachers that a school is allocated is based on student enrolment numbers. Currently the appointment number for a school with principal and eight staff, thus catering for all class groups, is 192. Trim Educate Together has 189 students.

"From the Department circular this would appear to be sufficient to retain a permanent teacher but because it is a Developing Post the school misses out. As a result, the school is now having to ask students in 4th and 5th class to complete a friendship sheet to try and ensure that when classes are split, close friends stay together."

Cllr Moore continued: "What is most frustrating is that on the one hand you have a Minister of Education who is championing the safeguarding of student mental health by spending €9 million on smart-phone pouches that many schools do not want, while on the other hand children are having to be choose between friends as they are split up. Surely the best way to support children’s mental health is by keeping them together in a stable classroom environment."

Regarding class sizes, he said only this year Education Minister Norma Foley stated that the average teacher allocation ratio was one for every 23 in primary schools, the lowest level ever seen a primary level, "yet despite this self-congratulation you now have a school where the ratio of students to teachers from 3rd to 6th class is currently 1 teacher to 24, but due to the Department of Education's decision this will now force four classes to become three, meaning the ratio jumps to 1 teacher to 32."

"As a parent, I can see first-hand the high-quality education that pupils in the Educate Together receive. This in part explains he school growth and an upward trend in the numbers attending the school. I have no doubt that this, along with the increased building in the town, will see the school's number grow further. Indeed, it is likely that by the end of the year, our numbers will exceed the 192 mark as families move into the area, something that makes the loss of this teacher even more frustrating."

Meanwhile, Deputy Johnny Guirke, Sinn Féin TD for Meath West has also raised serious concerns regarding the recent decision affecting Trim Educate Together National School saying government must prioritise educational resources over unnecessary expenditures, such as the €9 million spent on mobile phone pouches for secondary schools.

"This is not just a numbers game; it’s about the well-being of our pupils," Deputy Guirke stated. “The decision to remove a Developing School Post will result in the amalgamation of multiple classes into larger, split classrooms, causing significant disruption to the pupils' learning experience and friendships.”

Deputy Guirke has written to Minister Foley to address this pressing issue and is calling on the government to reconsider its priorities to allow Trim Educate Together National School to retain its Developing School Post. He said he plans to confront the Minister for Education in the Dáil this week, demanding accountability for the discrepancy between the government's rhetoric and the realities faced by schools like Trim Educate Together.

“I have made urgent representations to ensure that Trim Educate Together receives the support it needs and deserves. The pupils are being let down, and they deserve better,” Deputy Guirke stated.

Meanwhile the issue also came up at the October meeting of Trim Municipal District Council after local councillors were contacted by parents. Cllr Aisling Dempsey said she would raise it with Education Minister Norma Foley's office and suggested that they should also write to the Minister as a council to explain the importance of the post to the school.

The issue of the long term accommodation needs of the school was also brought up and councillors are also to request an update on the plans for the new education campus in Trim and what the Department's intention is in relation to the long term home for Trim ETNS.