Schools have highlighted recently that there are big concerns with regards to the management of employment law issues. The HR Suite are delighted to be able to offer you the needed expertise and peace of mind, whilst at the same time remaining cost effective.

The HR Suite are HR and Employment Law experts specialising in providing a bespoke, tailored and effective HR support to you and your school.  The HR Suite is managed by Caroline Reidy (McEnery) who has over 20 years’ experience in providing HR services to business throughout Ireland, including many businesses in the education sector. We provide cost effective HR solutions that allow you to focus on the running of your school while we proactively manage your HR activity. We keep you up to date with the relevant legislation changes including:

• The New Code of Practice for the Prevention of Bullying at Work
• The New Code of Practice relating to the Right to Disconnect
• The changes to Parents leave and Adoptive Leave
• The recent introduction of Statutory Sick Leave

We can help you manage these updates through drafting the necessary policies, training staff to ensure compliance with the code and providing ongoing HR advice to manage the practical aspects of the above changes. 

We can offer you the following HR Support Packages/ Bundle of Hours at a cost-effective rate:

• €500 for 5 Hours Email and Telephone Support
• €1,500 for 16.5 Hours Email and Telephone Support
• €2,500 for 29 Hours Email and Telephone Support

We can also offer Training in line with the New Bullying Code of Practice including;

• Contact Person Training
• Employee Training
• Management Training
• Investigator Training

For information on running any of the above courses in your school, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our Upcoming Public Training Courses:

• Employment Law Update – 28 September 2021
• Contact Person Training - 29 September 2021
• Time Management – 1 October 2021

For information on booking a space on any of the above training sessions and course outline email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For further information on any of the above services visit our website www.thehrsuite.com

Summer Provisions Information Link:

gov.ie - Summer Provision 2021 (www.gov.ie)

Link to online Application:

gov.ie - Summer Provision 2021 School Based Programme in Primary and Special Schools (www.gov.ie)

2021, Handbook, Information & Resources:

DES Announces DEIS Summer Camps 2021 - Navan Education Centre Teacher CPD Courses (ecnavan.ie)

Expanded Summer programme for children with special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage

The Department of Education has recently announced the provision of an expanded summer education programmes for students with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a COVID-19 pandemic response measure, for summer 2021. Under this expansion of the summer programme, students with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage will have access to an enhanced summer programme of education.

The programme’s aims are to support pupils to re-engage with education, to build their confidence and increase their motivation, promote wellbeing and for some who are at key transition stages, help to ensure they can move on to their planned educational placement next September along with their peers.

Following consultation with education stakeholders, a number of new initiatives and additional resources are being provided for schools running programmes this summer. This include providing funding for an Overseer role in each school and providing additional time for preparatory work. A new helpline is also being provided to handle queries. There is also a commitment to issue payments to staff involved in a more timely manner.

Primary Schools who wish to offer a school based summer programme can complete an ‘Expression of Interest’ form by Thursday 10^thJune on the following Department of Education link - https://dessurveys.education.gov.ie/surveys/summer-programme-primary

Post-Primary Schools who wish to offer a school based summer programme can complete an ‘Expression of Interest’ form by Friday 4^thJune on the following Department of Education link - https://dessurveys.education.gov.ie/surveys/summer-programme-pp

A Department helpline for schools and parents is also being provided to deal with any queries on the programmes. This can be reached by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 090 648 4292

PDST Technology in Education

PDST Technology in Education is offering extra places this year on its (free) online summer courses for primary teachers, hosted on TeacherCPD.ie. These include:

• 'An Introduction to Digital Citizenship Education (Primary)', an interesting new course, as well as
• 'Digital Video in the Primary Classroom', which was very well received last year and has been updated for this year. 

Both courses are approved for EPV days.

As of Monday, 17th May, plenty of places were available on both the Digital Video course, July 1st-20th,  and the August version of the Digital Citizenship Education course, August 3rd-19th. (The July version of the Digital Citizenship Education course is fully booked and is now closed.)

For the latest updates and to enrol, go to this link on TeacherCPD.ie