Thursday, February 08, 2007

"Foreign national children"

What makes a "foreign national child"? I ask this simply because the government is going to provide extra funding to schools depending on how many "foreign national children" the school has.

Well all three of mine have US passports. Are they all "foreign national children"? Or maybe only the one who was born in the US? Obviously, my children don't need "language support", but if the school's principal can count them in the total for "foreign national children" and get more resources why shouldn't she?

I know of one expensive fee-paying primary school in south County Dublin which is a particular favorite with the ambassadors and other diplomats based here. A large percentage of the children in that school are "foreign national children". Will that school be at the top of the list for all this extra government money?