School principal struggles to balance education with bloated energy bills

Primary school principal of Presentation National School in Millstreet Siobhán Buckley: 'What I can’t understand is that these politicians can see their bills rising at home and yet they don’t realise that the bills in schools are rising too.' Photograph: Dylan VaughanEnsuring quality teaching and learning should be the key concern of Co Cork primary school principal Siobhán Buckley but instead keeping the lights on is what worries her most this year.

“Year on year you can’t manage this, but we’re going to have to keep the lights on and heat the building. Schools are sprawling buildings with lots of rooms. My key role is to ensure quality teaching and learning yet in actual fact I’m trying to keep the show afloat. It’s soul-destroying,” she added.The school receives a capitation grant of €40,000 from the Department of Education, which Ms Buckley says needs to be increased.

Presentation NS Millstreet operates a book rental scheme and asks parents of pupils for a yearly voluntary contribution of €20 per pupil, or a maximum of €50 per family, but Ms Buckley says many parents can’t afford to pay it. “For hands-on concrete materials, we have to find the money for resources. The new maths curriculum is going to be heavily materials-dependent. Every class will need a maths equipment box and possibly one for every child so that every child can explore the concrete material for themselves. For IT, I bought bee-bots, which are mini coding devices that are very hands-on. Infants right up to sixth love them.

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