Paul Givan rapped for refusal to rethink ‘flawed' £20m programme for schools
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's active and healthy communities committee voted in December to lobby Paul Givan to reconsider the use of the 'Raise' formula for education amid fears deprived children will not benefit from the cash injection.
Raise was supposed to help address educational underachievement and tackle educational disadvantage.
However, it has been criticised after the eligibility criteria controversially moved from free school meal entitlement levels to include other indicators, meaning many better off grammar schools and a prep school, where parents usually pay fees, could benefit.
The council sent a letter to the Department of Education in March raising concerns about more affluent schools benefiting over the less well-off.
A response from Mr Givan provided last week said: 'I decided that the programme should be a regional programme, which will invest in disadvantage across all local government districts in Northern Ireland, including Newry, Mourne and Down.
'This will embed collaborative working in a high number of localities that can be a long lasting legacy after funding ends.
'I appreciate we have not been able to include all areas of educational disadvantage within NI and that there will always be areas that would wish to be included.'
The Raise scheme, partially funded by the Irish Government's Shared Island Fund, was launched last October.
However, major concerns were highlighted after the department's website identified almost 40 grammar schools and a prep school charging up to £5,000 a year as potentially eligible for funding.
Mr Givan said he would have liked to stretch the programme further, 'but the funding available is finite and therefore an approach to prioritisation has been necessary'.
'I have prioritised investment in those areas with the lowest levels of educational attainment so that all children and young people can reach their potential. Ultimately the success of the programme will be determined on how well it improves educational outcomes, so it is right that I am investing in areas with the lowest levels of attainment,' he said.
'I am delighted that the programme will have a significant presence in Newry, Mourne and Down. This is a very important programme with significant potential to do things differently, to facilitate greater collaboration across government, local government and in partnerships with the voluntary and community sector and many others including schools.
'I welcome the ongoing engagement with the Raise programme team towards the development of a strategic plan for Newry.'
Sinn Fein councillor Kate Murphy said: 'This is a very disappointing response.
'It fails to address the many concerns that educationalists and wider society have about the Raise programme, the methodology selected and how it has been applied.
'The first principle of education is that it should be child centred. Many schools are already chronically underfunded and running on deficit budgets.
'The Raise programme recognises neither of these facts and uses a flawed formula to select who will be funded and who, yet again, will not.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Belfast Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
National Trust had ‘significant' concerns about £44m Mournes cable car project after seeing environmental report being hidden from public by council using NDAs
An environmental report which potentially led to the collapse of the Mourne Gateway cable car project was the subject of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) has finally confirmed the confidential status of the report to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) a month after a media query.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Connecticut town's schools are investigated for transgender athlete policies
A school system in Connecticut is under investigation by the Trump administration over its transgender athletic policy, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed Tuesday, adding a new flashpoint in the national debate over trans girls' participation in youth sports. James Demetriades, the mayor of Cromwell, said the town's school system could lose nearly $1 million in federal funding if the department determines it's in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal assistance. The mayor, a Democrat, said Monday that the school district would be ineligible for the state's athletic conference if it didn't allow student athletes to compete on sex-segregated sports teams consistent with their gender identity. He said the district is currently following 'all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.' 'We don't know why Cromwell was targeted for this action,' Demetriades said in a statement on Facebook. He said the investigation also includes restroom and locker room usage. The head of the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement that the investigation was looking at whether the district's policies were 'depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon added that, 'This Administration will fight on every front to protect women's and girls' sports.' A community of more than 14,000, Cromwell is about 20 minutes south of the capital, Hartford. A rally in support of transgender youth was planned Tuesday evening at Cromwell High School. In 2019, during President Donald Trump 's first term, the Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into Connecticut's policy that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. It followed a complaint filed by the families of three girls, who said they were discriminated against by having to compete in track events against two athletes who were identified as male at birth, including one at Cromwell High School. A federal appeals court in 2022 dismissed a challenge to Connecticut's policy. It was later revived and the case is still pending. It could be ready for a trial in 2026. Days after taking office for his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled ' Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," which states that all funds from educational programs 'that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,' will be rescinded. In his post, Demetriades asked state officials to help hold the town harmless from liability and intervene if Cromwell is sued by the Department of Justice. In March, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest school district, over allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a high school girls' track-and-field team.
Belfast Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
DUP storms out of council meeting and withdraws from good relations committee in row over Irish signs and trans issues
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council ratified its language policy with a majority vote on Irish and English gateway signage on Monday evening. But unionists objected to the new signs for almost 90 communities in the district at the full council meeting which ended with the DUP choosing to step away from the equality and good relations committee until further notice. It took the decision within 30 minutes of the language policy being approved when the party's motion on biological women was moved to remit of the committee by new deputy chairperson and Sinn Fein councillor Gerladine Kearns. The DUP'S Jonathan Jackson told elected representatives 'it is really disappointing that this motion is not being heard here tonight in the chamber' as he insisted the Supreme court ruling on the definition of sex 'in our own land' is a 'highly disappointing' matter. The council meeting was the first of the new term which started with the election of Sinn Fein reps as chairperson, cllr Philip Campbell and and deputy chair, cllr Gerladine Kearns. The motion had been for the council to ban trans women from having rights to use council owned female toilets. 'And just on that basis and on the basis on the earlier discussion on the Irish language signs we as the DUP group have had to make a decision to withdraw from good relations reference group until further notice," cllr Jackson said. "And unfortunately tonight when there are other motions being heard above this one we feel the need that we can't take part in tonight's meeting any more and we will withdraw.' Referring to the decision on Irish signs, Slieve Croob DUP cllr Alan Lewis said he thinks 'it would be a fair guess to say that the council will be met with a fairly hefty repair bill'. "Because we aren't blind we know that these signs have been damaged and wrecked in the past,' he said. 'But, let me be extremely clear, do I support them being vandalised? "No, because it sends out the wrong message. 'But I think we are living in cloud cuckoo land if we don't think these signs will be damaged.' Slieve Gullion UUP rep David Taylor expressed concerns that the 'equality committee has failed…I'm just sorry we couldn't find a way forward'. Alliance supported the bi-lingual signs with cllr Tierna Howie saying: 'Across the British Isles languages are embraced, why should Newry, Mourne and Down be different?' It prompted the DUP's Glyn Hanna quipped the party should now 'change its colours from yellow to light green'. The ratification of plans to install Irish signs comes six years after it was first proposed. In a joint statement issued after the tense meeting. the DUP working group on the council defended 'the regrettable decision' to withdraw from the gathering 'due to the continued disrespect towards the DUP and those we represent'. Councillors Callum Bowsie, Glyn Hanna, Jonathan Jackson, Alan Lewis, Henry Reilly accused fellow councillors of 'forcing through Irish signage without the consent of unionists and refusing to allow the DUP to debate important issues in full council meetings'. 'We have expressed our concerns with the council installing Irish leading signage in towns where the vast majority of residents do not identify with or use the Irish language,' they said. 'In 2023, the council consulted District Electoral Area (DEA) Forums and yet despite not all DEAs in the council area voting for bilingual gateway signs, this has been completely ignored. "For six years we have engaged in this debate around gateway signage in good faith through the council's Equality and Good Relations Reference Group and have made clear we are willing to discuss how old Irish place names can be promoted in a fair and balanced manner so that all traditions are respected, and which reflects the delicate balance of community relations in Northern Ireland. We have stressed that culture and language provisions must be about facilitation rather than imposition. 'However, after 12 meetings on this topic in the EGRRG, once again it is the case of majority rule by Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance to systematically impose Irish signage in every town throughout the district without any regard for the wishes of those communities, who are now expected to assimilate into another's language and culture, which goes against the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.' The representatives insisted they have tried to find consensus at the reference group's non statutory meetings, but said 'the outcome still results in majority rule'. "We believe we are wasting our time expressing our concerns via this private forum and we therefore are withdrawing from it until further notice,' they added. Other motions heard in the chamber included support for employment rights and the need for an all island election when it comes to voting for candidates seeking to become the President of Ireland. The latter topic upset DUP councillors after their motion on the Supreme Court ruling and its impact on the council's approach to sexed toilets was deemed too 'controversial' for an open meeting. 'While our motion was denied a public debate, moments later a controversial motion from Sinn Fein which has nothing to do with this council regarding Irish presidential elections being extended to Northern Ireland was allowed to be fully debated during the same full council meeting," the DUP working group statement continued. 'This is the disparity shown towards unionists on only one evening and doesn't even scratch the surface of what our party has had to endure in Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for many years. "The inequality towards unionists is a persistent problem and must end.'
