Book Grant Scheme
Please Note: The Department of Education & Skills has not yet made funding available for the Book Grant Scheme for 2024/25.
We expect to receive notification of this during the month of June, when this will be distributed to those eligible as soon as possible in the form of book vouchers for Tony Clarke’s Bookshop and O’Mahony’s Bookshop, Limerick.
Book Grant Allocation
Please note the following regarding the Book Grant Scheme.
Please note that this scheme will only apply now to Transition Year and Senior students as due to the recent announcement of a free book school book scheme for First, Second and Third Year students who will not be required to purchase textbooks. Therefore, there is no requirement to apply under this scheme for these year groups. Further information regarding same will be sent out in due course.
This scheme applies to needy pupils in schools in the free education scheme, as is detailed in the Department of Education Circular 0023/2008.
- A needy pupil is defined as a pupil from a family where there is genuine hardship because of unemployment, prolonged illness of a parent; large family size with inadequate means, single parenthood, or other family circumstances which would indicate a similar degree of financial hardship.
Such families may be divided into the following three categories
- Families which are dependent mainly on social welfare payments;
- Families on low incomes from employment. (Such families are likely to be in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance or Working Family Payment, which is a weekly cash payment by the Department of Social Protection to help families at work on low pay, or to be beneficiaries under the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Scheme);
- Families which are experiencing financial hardship because of particular circumstances in the home. (As the vast majority of needy pupils will fall within the first two categories, only a small proportion will come within this category.)
- Entitlement to a medical card is not necessarily an indicator of eligibility
Please click link to apply/use the below embedded form: https://forms.office.com/e/3fJvNhf87G
Supporting Documentation
Please note under this scheme, to be considered for eligibility, the school is required to review supporting documentation for each application.
Each application must be supported with documentation, which may include:
- Copy of Medical Card (with number)
- Social Welfare receipt
- Payslips
- Any other relevant documentation that may support the application
Please note an application cannot be processed without copies of the relevant documentation being provided to the school by any of the following methods. Please ensure that the envelope/email is clearly marked as “School Book Grant 2024”
- email – szryan@johnthebaptistcs.ie
- in person – please hand in to the secretaries office
- by post – John the Baptist Community School, Hospital, Co. Limerick. V35 WT25
The information submitted will be used solely for the purpose of allocating the school book grant and will not be used for any other purpose.
Further Information
- This above list is in line with Department of Education Circular 0023/2008 –“School Books Grant Scheme for Needy Pupils” – please see link: DES Circular 23-2008
- Please see “Financial help with going to school” from the Citizen Advice Bureau also for additional information: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/education/primary-and-post-primary-education/educational-supports/financial-help-with-school/