Concerns regarding special classes in the county remain, due to Kildare's growing population
Just one special class has been allocated to the whole of Kildare, in the Department of Education's latest announcement of forty new special classes to be included in mainstream schools.
Five inclusive special classes have also been sanctioned, meaning the school will receive funding for an extra teacher, two SNAs and more capitation funding.
They are located in Dublin, Louth, Limerick, Offaly and Cork.
Naas Community College is the latest secondary school to receive the addition of a special class in the county.
Last week, a special school was announced for Monasterevin, through the repurposing of the existing St. Peter's boys primary school.
Although an additional class and school are of benefit to the county, concern remains for the lack of special classes in Kildare.
Just six of them were allocated for Kildare South, which received criticism from local Labour TD, Mark Wall.
Today’s announcement brings the total number of new special classes sanctioned for the upcoming school year to 427.
Currently in Kildare, there are 148 special classes and six special schools in operation.
In response to today's announcement, AsIAm, Ireland’s Autism Charity, have written to the Department seeking an urgent meeting.
"Whilst proposals or reforms can be welcome in creating a more inclusive education system, they must not fail to negate the right not just to a school place but for that school place to be appropriate.
"We note the proposed name for the proposed model in five secondary schools is an "Inclusive Autism Class" but we would remind the Department that all Autism classes in the system should be inclusive and promote opportunities for Autistic young people to participate in mainstream activities with their peers.
"We are concerned that today’s announcement has come without advanced consultation with our organisation or community and urgently requires clarity on how schools will be supported to operationalise such a model and the impact it will have on our students.
"We will keep the community informed of this engagement and welcome any questions you may have to inform our advocacy."
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