APPLICATIONS FOR A scheme that provides extra educational support for children with complex special educational needs during the summer holidays will reopen, Tánaiste Simon Harris has confirmed.

It comes after the online portal to apply was open for just eight days earlier this month, with parents and schools saying they did not have enough time to register as a result.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told The Journal last week that the portal would not reopen as there was no evidence that the change in timeline had impacted on applications.

But speaking during Leaders’ Questions today, Simon Harris said the portal will reopen. 

He said Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton had listened to the concerns of parents, teachers and schools “and I am pleased to confirm that the portal will be reopened to allow further schools to apply”.

He said Naughton would announce details of the extension shortly, adding that schools would be informed of the development today and the portal will reopen next week. 

The Summer Programme, also known as ‘July Provision’ and ‘Summer Provision’, was developed to help bridge the gap the school holidays leave through helping to keep a routine and reducing potential regression in learning.

Children can partake in the scheme for between two and four weeks in July.

It can be run in mainstream primary and post-primary schools, special schools or at home for children whose schools are not providing a school-based programme.

For the home-based scheme, a parent or guardian must find a teacher or tutor to provide it for an allocated number of hours per week. They are then reimbursed by the Department of Education.  

Thousands of children take part in the scheme every year. 

Eight-day application window

This year, the portal for an individual or school to apply for the scheme was open from 6 to 15 May. The window had been open for two weeks or more in previous years. 

Some parents and schools reported not receiving correspondence from the Department notifying them that the window for applications was open until a couple of days before the deadline. 

As a result, they said not enough time was given for them to gauge interest from parents or source teachers to run the scheme during the summer holidays. 

Last week, a spokesperson for the Department of Education told The Journal that the online registration portal would not reopen. 

They said that in earlier years, when the programme was less well known, “there was a longer notification period”. However, they said the programme has grown substantially in recent years and is now well-established part of the education landscape.

“There is no evidence that the change in the timeline has impacted on applications and as the focus now needs to be on processing the applications and ensuring the programme runs, it is not proposed to reopen the portal,” the spokesperson said. 

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the matter in the Dáil on Wednesday, telling Taoiseach Micheál Martin that the “unreasonable time frame” of one week meant that many children would miss out and that the goverment must reopen the portal “immediately”.

The party’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty raised it again today. He said he had been contacted by parents, teachers and school principals about it, saying they were “deeply distressed”. 

Schools and families have been pleading with the department to intervene, but their appeals are falling on deaf ears over and over again.

Doherty said: “This year the application window for the July Provision was open just for one week. In previous years, schools had months to complete this process.

“Many schools simply did not have sufficient time to process applications, to gather the paperwork, to complete the registrations before the portal was closed,” he said, adding that the consequence meant that children with additional needs “are now locked out of vital education support this summer”. 

Increase in applications

Responding, Harris confirmed the portal would reopen. 

“The deputy is right, and on occasions, we can agree in this house,” he said.

“This is a vital program that plays a really important part in the lives of children with additional needs, be they special educational needs or be they children from areas of economic disadvantage.”

The Fine Gael leader said in 2020, 545 schools and nearly 23,000 children took part in the programme. Last year, more than 1,800 schools and almost 71,000 children participated.

Harris said that while stakeholders were made aware of the 6-15 May timeframe for the portal, this time of year is a busy one for school communities. 

Yes, there were reminders sent to schools, all of that, but that’s somewhat missing the point. The point is, there’s a need for a longer period of time for schools to apply and get this up and running.

He also said the Department of Education received more applications for the scheme this year across primary, post primary and special schools compared to last year, while home-based applications also significantly increased.

“Notwithstanding that – in fact, perhaps because of that – we want to make sure that the children who need this programme get it.”

Before it was confirmed that the portal would reopen, autism charity AsIAm told The Journal that the Summer Programme is a “vital resource for many of our families across the country”.

The charity’s head of policy Michael O’Flanagan said: “Whilst we have received limited calls on this to our Autism Information Line, the concerns from families who have been restricted from accessing this programme is concerning.”

He called on the Department of Education to “engage constructively” with parents and ensure that schools and students are supported to access the programme if they experienced barriers to registration.

“This year’s registration period was very short, and this has real consequences for many families and schools. Families deserve better planning for this programme, and this must be reflected on by the Department of Education and Youth.”