Minister for Education Joe McHugh has confirmed that he plans to proceed with a Summer Programme for children with special needs next month.
Any children that were been eligible for July Provision will qualify for the supports.
This year’s programme will be a home and school based scheme.
While no specifics of the Summer Programme have been announced, Minister McHugh said that it won’t be limited to children in special classes or special schools. Nor will it be restricted to children with underlying medical conditions.
The ‘July Provision’ programme offers extra support to over 10,000 children with complex conditions such as autism, or who are at high risk of educational disadvantage.
This year’s programme will be a day respite, activity type scheme to run alongside the traditional July Provision and aims to assist young people to re-engage in the school setting.
The Minster will bring proposals to Cabinet next week on the matter and on the reopening of schools in late August and September.
