Letter to School Staff and Board of Management Members

Subject: Have Your Say - Primary School Survey

4 November 2025

Dear Principal/School Staff/Board of Management member,

We invite you as Principal, member of the school staff and/or member of the board of management to ‘Have Your Say’ about your primary school. We are doing this through a short, confidential survey, which will take at most 5 minutes to complete. This is an important survey and is the first time that a survey of this scale is being run by the Department of Education and Youth. The results of the survey will help the department plan how we provide education at primary level.

How to do the survey

Click the link below to take part:

www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey

It only takes 5 minutes!

The department is sending a survey PIN unique to your school for all staff and all board of management members to your school principal, which is required to access the survey to register your preference.

If you have not received the school PIN by 14th November 2025 you can email: schoolsurvey@education.gov.ie

Why take part?

School communities reflect the rich and diverse society we live in. We want to understand the preferences of school communities, including school staff and board of management members about their school and parents and guardians about the primary schools which their children attend now or will attend in coming years.

What will I be asked?

We will ask you a small number of questions, including the following:

“Would you prefer your primary school to be a co-educational school or a single-sex school?

Would you prefer your primary school to operate under a denominational (religious) patron or to operate under a multi-denominational (non-religious) patron?

Would you prefer your primary school to provide education primarily through the English language or through the Irish language?”

Further information is available here:

• www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey

How will my information be used?

Your answers are confidential and will not be shared with anyone else. The answers from your school will help the department and your school to plan for the future.

What will happen with the results of the survey?

Initial high-level summary results (response rates) will be published in early 2026.

The results of the survey will help the department in planning education provision at primary level.

We encourage all schools to offer support where appropriate, in the normal way, to any parents or guardians who may have difficulty completing the survey.

In the letter to parents and guardians, we have included the following information regarding special educational needs:

Who do I contact if I want to discuss special educational needs provision for my child(ren)?

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) was set up to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs with particular emphasis on children. The NCSE local service is delivered through their national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) who interact with parents and schools. The number of SENOs has increased from 65 to 120 with the aim of providing an improved level of service for parents and schools.

As part of the forward planning for special education provision, the NCSE aims to assist parents seeking a special class/school placement for their child/young person. Parents of children and young people seeking a special class or special school place should contact the NCSE and have regard to the annual process and timelines for notifying the NCSE. For example those seeking a special class or special school place for the 2026/2027 school year were asked to notify the NCSE by 1 October 2025.

NCSE contact information: www.ncse.ie/contact-the-ncse

Questions?

For more information, visit: www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey

Don’t miss your chance to have your say!

The survey will close on 16 December 2025.

Thank you for your time and valuable input.