Laois school staff ready for 'sardine' squeeze to open new Autism class

The Rock National School, part of Mountmellick parish, has no spare class nor will it have a modular building on site in time.

However Principal Liam Ahern said the class will be launched nonetheless, thanks to staff agreeing to give up their staff room.

He has confirmed to the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the families of six pupils have already been notified.

The principal who oversaw managed multiple classroom extensions of what was a two classroom school at The Rock, criticised the latest national building process as "frustrating and time consuming" with an "astronomical" pricetag.

Mr Ahern gave an update on July 4.

"We are always wiser in hindsight. The NCSE and Building Unit don't co-ordinate with each other, so when the Minister Helen McEntee announced 400 special classes for September 2025, there were always going to be delays and problems caused by the extremely tight timeframe," he said.

The Rock NS has eight classrooms and four SET (special education teacher) rooms, a staffroom and an office. All rooms are used all of the time. There are no library, hall or computer rooms.

"The Board of Management agreed to accept a special class for children with autism on 13th February 2025 on the understanding that a modular unit would be in place for September 2025. The sanction letter from the NCSE arrived on 18th February 2025. Since then the school has completed the admission process for the children.

"Six children have been offered and accepted places for September 2025. A total of 14 children applied for places in that class. The process of appointing the Special Needs Assistants and special class teacher are nearing completion," he said.

Mr Ahern had first hoped to install a modular class on their playground in time.

"While the admission process was taking place, and on behalf of the Board of Management, I was in contact with the Building Unit, Department of Education & Youth in Tullamore regarding a modular building. The Dept. accepted that there wasn't a spare room suitable for the ASD class at the school and that a modular build was required.

"Initially, we were under the impression that a modular building would be in place for September 2025. This impression was totally incorrect.

"A project management company was appointed on behalf of the Dept, (as they are trying to have 400 special classes in place for this September and a further 400 special classes in place for September 2026) in order to organise the architect, engineer, quantity surveyor etc to bring this project to fruition. All of these professionals work for different companies.

"Again, on behalf of the Board, I have been in contact with them and the officers from the Building Unit, on numerous occasions. I've found the process of having a modular unit in place very time consuming and very frustrating. The timeframe was too short.

"The price we have been quoted for one 100 metre squared room, outdoor soft play area is astronomical. It would pay for three of our previous extensions at the school," he said.

He said they then came up with a "plan B" to accommodate the children in the special class this September.

"The modular unit is not expected to be in place until September 2026. For this school year, given the timescale mentioned above(Feb-August) plan B involves using the staffroom to accommodate one of our mainstream classes whilst the children in the special class will be accommodated in a mainstream class.

"School staff have very kindly agreed to forego the use of the staffroom, probably for the full school year. It will mean using an existing special education room as a staffroom where we will be squeezed in at break and lunch times like sardines to make this work," he said.

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"We did contemplate a larger reconfiguration project during the summer but time was against us completing this. To be fair to the Building Unit, there are some reconfiguration works required to a toilet block as well as the mainstream classroom to adapt it for the children with ASD. The Building Unit have been helpful with advice and finance in this regard," he said.

Some of the eight other Laois schools are struggling to open special education classes too, as well as St Francis Special School, according to Laois TD Brian Stanley.

The school has appointed Gabriel McGinley, Fitzgibbon McGinley architects to oversee the work.

"It is hoped that all works will be completed before the school reopens on Thursday 28 August.

"We are one of the schools caught in the middle but like the other schools, we have come up with a solution at local level. There are 400 principals of primary schools around the country trying to find solutions that work for their individual schools - it isn't perfect by any means but we will make this work for the children and families involved," the Rock NS principal said.