A DUBLIN PRIMARY school has intervened in the case of a child who was moved to a former hotel for people seeking international protection in Co Tipperary, expressing fears that the child’s relocation could set her back “academically and emotionally” due to trauma she suffered previously.

The school warned that the sudden transfer of the seven-year-old-girl to a new school environment could “very likely undermine” its efforts and result in “significant setbacks for the child” unless she was allowed to move back to Dublin.

The young girl was due to enter second class at a school in south Dublin this week, but she and her mother were transferred to Dundrum House earlier this month unexpectedly.

Approximately 70 people applying for international protection were transferred to Dundrum House, which has become the focal point of protests by locals throughout the summer.

A number of families have been left distressed by the move, with some leaving behind jobs and communities in Dublin, particularly as they have faced hostility in Tipperary.

In a letter seen by The Journal, the primary school’s principal has written to International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) and appealed for the family to be brought back to Dublin to allow the girl continue her education in the school where she spent the past year in Ireland.

‘The school knows her’

The girl’s mother told The Journal that she desperately wants her child to be able to move back to Dublin.

“I want her to go to the same school because she was attending therapy and that school worked very hard for my daughter to settle in,” she said.

“Our plan was that this year it would focus on the academic aspect. The school knows her, it knows her strength and it knows her weakness. It has a system now for her.”

The woman, who came from a region of Africa to Ireland with her daughter over a year ago but who has asked to remain anonymous, said the move will mean a new school will have to come to understand her daughter’s needs, when this work was completed with the Dublin school last year.

The school principal told Ipas that the school found she presented with “signs of trauma” after initially enrolling last August, and it committed “intensive emotional support” to help her.

This involved investing time and resources to “carefully building a support system” around the youngster, primarily to improve her “wellbeing and her ability to access learning” in the school.

“When [the child] enrolled in our school she presented with signs and symptoms of trauma. She was withdrawn, highly anxious and emotionally dysregulated,” the principal said.

It said it initially found that she was “performing at a very low level for her age” academically and needed therapeutic supports before she could fully come to terms with class-time learing.

After providing supports such as weekly access to play therapy and daily access to group sessions with other struggling pupils, the school said it had been able to create a space where the young girl “finally feels safe and secure and is now ready to access learning”.

“We were unable to address the academic need initially as we first had to address her emotional needs. [The child] is due to start in second class next week, where we have allocated one-to-one additional learning support to her in order to meet her academic needs,” the school told Ipas.

I have serious concerns that relocating [the child] from our school at this stage would very likely undermine our efforts and could result in significant setbacks for the child, both academically and emotionally. Given these considerations, I respectfully urge you to facilitate [the child] to remain in this area to continue her education uninterrupted.

The principal added: “The stability provided by staying in this school school is vital for her well-being and future success.”

The Department of Integration does not typically comment on individual cases.

It told The Journal earlier this week that educational welfare officers from Tusla are currently liaising with the centre’s management and parents to “secure school places for all children in the centre” in the locality and nearby.