Dear Parents/Guardians,
Re: Post-primary Schoolbooks Scheme for the 2025/26 school year.
For the 2025/26 school year all students in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme will receive free schoolbooks and core classroom resources. These will be in place in time for the start of the new school year.
Incoming 1st year students can collect their stationery packs on 16th June as communicated to parents/guardians. Their books/eBooks will be available in August when they start in school.
Incoming 5th years can collect their books in July and the specific dates will be communicated to the relevant parents/guardians. Their stationery will be available in August when they start in school.
Any additional books/eBooks and stationery for all other year groups will be available for those students in August when they start in school.
This scheme is being implemented by Minister for Education Helen McEntee TD. It is in recognition of the cost of preparing children and young people for the return to school. The cost of providing schoolbooks and core classroom resources will now be borne by the State. The scheme will ensure equity of access, where all children and young people enrolled in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme can commence the new school year in 2025/26 with the same schoolbooks and classroom resources as other children and young people in their class.
“Schoolbooks” includes all relevant schoolbooks, including eBooks for all programmes at both Junior and Senior Cycle, including Transition Year. It covers workbooks in use in the school to support teaching and subject learning. It also includes necessary additional texts such as novels and plays for English and where required, books of past examination papers for all subjects.
Funding for the scheme in 2025/26 is being provided directly to post-primary schools by the Department of Education. Schools now have responsibility for providing schoolbooks and core classroom resources to all students at the start of the 2025/26 school year.
(Where parents/guardians of second, third year and sixth year students currently own their schoolbooks or were provided with schoolbooks under the Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme in 2024/25 these are to be used)
Parents/Guardians of students commencing second, third, and sixth year may already have purchased, or under the Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme students were provided with, a significant amount of the schoolbooks and classroom resources required. Any additional schoolbooks and core classroom resources required by students in these years will now be covered under the scheme.
All schoolbooks and core classroom resources provided under the scheme will remain the property of the school, so that they can be reused in future years (where applicable).
Schoolbooks will be provided on loan to fifth year students for the duration of the 2025/26 school year and must be returned to school at the end of the senior cycle. Junior Cycle students will be provided with eBooks as required. They will also be provided with novels/plays as required which must be returned to school and the end of their junior cycle.
Under the terms of the scheme, schools are permitted to charge a refundable deposit to cover lost, damaged and unreturned schoolbooks. The school has decided to charge a refundable deposit of €50 per student at senior cycle. When schoolbooks are returned to the school at the end of sixth year, the deposit will be refunded.
Please remind your children to take care of their schoolbooks and classroom resources and keep them in good condition during the period that they are in their possession. It is not permitted to write on schoolbooks. The school is under no obligation to replace an item that has been lost or damaged by a student.
There may be some additional classroom resources that are not covered by the scheme.
Further details of what parents/guardians will need to pay a fee to the school for will be itemised and communicated to parents/guardians by the school in our 2025 summer bulletins which are posted out to all parents/guardians.
Yours faithfully,
Alan Mynes
Principal