Schoolbooks Grant 2024
For attention of all Parents.
Guidelines on the new Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme have recently been released.
This is a new scheme that will require schools to purchase a large amount of school books and associated resources on behalf of pupils.
I want to keep parents informed of how things are likely to play out.
The Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme applies to Junior Cycle pupils only.
The main aim of the new Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme is to eliminate the cost of schoolbooks and core classroom resources for parents/guardians.
Once these have been provided, the grant should be used to eliminate other costs for additional classroom resources where a charge may have otherwise been paid by the parents/guardians.
Additional classroom resources covers resources used in many practical subjects such as Visual Art, Home Economics, Graphics, Engineering, Wood Technology, Applied Technology, Science and Music etc.
The school books provided remain the property of the school and will be used within the book rental system that we currently have in operation.
We are permitted to use this scheme to pay for certain materials for pupils but not others i.e. school insurance, lockers, co-curricular activities, extra-curricular activities, school trips, text messages, mock exams and so on.
In practical terms, this will mean that we will need to reduce our school fees for Junior pupils (1st, 2nd, 3rd Years), I envisage that it will be reduced from €200 to approximately €110.
I envisage that school fees for TYs (€380) and 5th and 6th Years (€200) will remain the same, as the new scheme only applies to Junior pupils.
This will all have to be discussed and ratified by our board of management and subsequently LMETB’s board of management.
So we will not be starting to collect fees until May.
Click on the link to see the parents’ information guide on the new Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme – https://stoliverpps.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Free-schoolbooks-for-all-post-primary-Junior-Cycle-students-Parents-Info-1.pdf
I will update the school community in due course, if needs be.
Regards,
Mr Corcoran.
Principal
