We’re all used to reading headlines about cuts to the health and education system but many of us are fortunate enough not to be directly affected and if truth be told, have forgotten the details before we even reach the end of the article.

But behind every reduced budget, there are families feeling the pinch, and Dalkey School Project, Ireland’s first Educate Together school, has recently launched a campaign to ‘Meet the Kids behind the Cuts’ in order to highlight the challenges faced by many special needs children – both in their own school and in many others around the country.

Parents and teachers are calling on the Government to provide one Special Needs Assistant (SNA) per classroom and help to establish a ‘fair and transparent’ support system for pupils with additional needs.

In August, the South Dublin school lost two of its SNAs, and only nine children have been given official access to the service, despite (according to the school) three additional children meeting the criteria set out by the Department of Education and Skills.

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Now there are only six SNAs to deal with the needs of 234 children, many of whom are in need of additional interventions.

Principal Miriam Hurley says: “Two SNAs were made redundant and our concern is that more cuts will be made at the end of this school year.

“We have five children with significant needs in 5th & 6th classes yet only one SNA going from one class to the other repeatedly. Children can become very distressed without the support of a trusted adult who is available to listen to them (SNA), as the teachers must teach the other (28-29) pupils in the class.

“Without adequate SNA support children are potentially losing valuable learning time… many are distressed by changes in routines. Schools are meant to be inclusive and safe spaces, yet access to SNAs is being radically reduced.”

Rachel Prendergast Spollen is chairperson of the campaign. She has three children, one of whom (Hunter, 12) has ASD and is experiencing limited access to SNA and resources.

“Losing two SNAs has been a shock to the school, the parents and most importantly, the children who need and are entitled to additional supports in their school life,” she says. “Hunter has done so well managing with the support of Sandra, his SNA. But you don’t have to be an expert to recognise that one person working across two classes with five high-needs children (and others who require support) is at best, unrealistic.

“Children with additional needs don’t suddenly lose the need for supports because they move up to a class.”

Currently just 4pc of the pupils at the Dalkey school have been granted official access to an SNA, despite 20pc needing additional strategies – and in some cases extra resource classes are taking place in the corridor due to lack of available space.

“Our proposed building plan has taken years of revisions and it feels like the school is a pawn being tossed between the Department of Education and Skills and the local planning department,” says Hurley. “We have experienced a series of revisions over a 12-year period and just want appropriate rooms for children, yet our application is tangled in a web of bureaucratic terms and conditions.

“We want an SNA in every classroom… and urgent reform as too many children and parents are continuing to suffer.”

And the principal says this is not just a Dublin problem.

“I would say it is a national crisis,” she says. “We want the school inclusion model to work but this can only happen if it is properly resourced.”

John Farrell, principal of Educate Together NS in Galway has lost ‘1.33’ SNAs over the past couple of years and currently has 45 children being cared for by ‘14.33’ SNAs, which he says is unacceptable as some of the children need one-to-one care.

And Rachel Broderick, a parent from Thurles with two profoundly deaf children, is worried that when her daughter moves on to secondary school next year, she will not receive the support she needs due to lack of funding.

“The cuts will run deep for our family as this time next year she will sit in very difficult circumstances during what we all know to be a vulnerable time: her first year as a girl with a disability without the support that kids in the 1970s would have received,” she says.

But a spokesperson for the Department says the provision of education for children with special educational needs is an ongoing priority for Government and that there have been no cuts to the SNA budget.

“The numbers of special classes, special education teachers and SNAs are at unprecedented levels,” he says. “Special classes have tripled since 2011 to 1,620 and currently, almost 20pc of the total current Education & Training budget or €1.9bn is invested in supporting children with special educational needs.

“By the end of this year, there will be up to 15,950 SNAs working in our schools, an increase of over 51pc since 2011. Budget 2020 has provided for 1,064 additional SNAs posts, which will bring the total number to over 17,000 in 2020. There have been no cuts to this sector.”

But other school principals are also citing a reduction in the number of SNAs available in their classrooms.

“There certainly are challenges facing our school in light of severe cuts to our SNA allocation,” says Barry O’Leary, principal of St Kevin’s NS in Sallynoggin. “The school has six pupils with ASD and two pupils with a diagnosis of Severe Emotional Behavioural Disturbance (SEBD).

“This figure excludes three pupils who have been refused SNA support, two of whom have a constellation of behaviours commensurate with a diagnosis of ASD. In some instances, it appears that the NCSE have the remit to invalidate medical reports that give a diagnosis of ASD.”

The Dublin school had a previous allocation of five SNA positions in 2018/19 and six in 2017/18, but it has been reduced to 3.16, which the principal believes is far from adequate and is putting a lot of pressure on teachers and students alike.

“A reduction from six to five and then to 3.16 within a 12-month period appears iniquitous and exceptionally unjust, particularly in light of the reports stating the significant level of support that our six pupils with ASD and those with SEBD require in a mainstream setting,” he says. “3.16 SNA positions are not sufficient to enable these pupils to participate successfully in mainstream education. It’s just not possible for three SNAs to support eight pupils effectively across nine classrooms.”

According to the Department, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of SMA support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for such support in the school.

“In considering applications for SNA support for individual pupils, the NCSE takes account of the pupils’ needs and considers the resources available to the school to identify whether additionality is needed or whether the school might reasonably be expected to meet the needs of the pupils from its current level of resources,” says a spokesperson.

“It’s important to note that SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools and can change from year to year as children with care needs leave the school, as new children with care needs enrol and as children develop more independent living skills and their care needs diminish over time.”

But Colm Byrne of Holy Family NS in Rathcoole says his school is still waiting sanction on additional SNA resources for new pupils.

“We were informed we would get additional resources in September, but we are now into November and have had no word from the Department,” he says.

“It’s a broken system which expects schools to meet the needs of new pupils by ‘stretching’ its existing SNA resources, at a cost of reduced support for those pupils who were allocated support, but it’s a wholly dysfunctional system which allocates SNA support to a pupil in one school but expects that pupil’s new school to go without support due to delays with the Department.

“You cannot leave a child for months without such support. It’s akin to expecting hospital patients to remain in a hospital bed unattended until such time as a nurse or doctor can be appointed.”

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